tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35321528663804619902024-03-13T12:41:52.741-04:00Memento MoriMary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-9127003571885177312013-06-04T21:41:00.000-04:002013-06-04T21:41:07.224-04:00meet me in a different placeWell, this blog is officially closed! I started it during my brief dramatic phase in high school - then went to college and "time is undone" and "remember you will die" seemed awfully melodramatic, especially for a prosy little thing like me, now that I'm done. So here's a link to my new blog, <a href="http://fareforwardblog.wordpress.com/">At the Still Point</a>, for anyone who might find this old place.Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-44505803973678592262013-05-25T02:43:00.001-04:002013-05-25T02:44:26.679-04:00Faring ForwardAfter a wonderful, wonderful vacation with my family after my graduation from PHC a couple weeks ago, we came back and I've spent the last two days cleaning out my room and making it post-PHC mine again :) Dr. Libby's books have been added to my collection, I have a desk space of my own, my clothes are all hung up. The last thing I had to do was sort out the papers, syllabi, cards, and other mementos I'd brought back with me over the years. I left it for the very last thing--I procrastinated until I couldn't anymore, because I didn't feel emotionally up to revisiting everything. A couple hours ago, I heaved a sigh, planted myself on the ground next to my three piled over boxes, and got started.<br />
<br />
It's amazing, the accumulated miles of ink traveled the past four years. I went all the way back to freshman year (my printed Spinney lectures got my special folder--the Avengers one). I found the first thing I got back that year: the 1st Spinney exam, and I still remember how stupefied I was at my grade - the lowest grade I'd ever gotten in my life. But then I pulled out the only A Spinney paper I wrote: the Sowell paper, and felt the same rush of exhilaration I did when I pulled it out of my mailbox. There was growth, in the space of a year.<br />
<br />
I found my PBR presentation on Rand, which also earned an A. I loved that paper, because then I began to learn that one can show compassion to an angry nonbeliever and still maintain the integrity of your faith.<br />
<br />
I found my Junior year papers from Dr. Libby, and teared up a bit at those--those gentle words that praised unreservedly where it was deserved, and gently pruned and shaped where needed. I loved her, because she showed me grace and strong womanhood and gentle intellect--and told me I had those too.<br />
<br />
And then there was all of senior year, which is still a little too close for comfort. All the things from Dr. Libby's passing are right next to my knee, propped up against the foot of my bed--the Herald article, the program from her memorial, and underneath all the cards and papers and grades I'd gotten from her. There's the folder from Dr. Mrs. McCollum, picking up the pieces of the Faith and Reason paper I'd begun and helping me tie them back together again in the light of who Dr. Libby was. There's Dr. Mrs. McCollum herself, whose unabashed integrity, fearlessness, graciousness and confidence in my abilities had me moving forward again as a scholar and a woman when I had been really vulnerable and shaken. There was also that delicious Faith and Reason paper that taught me about beauty and grace together, in the holiest sense.<br />
<br />
And now I'm back in my little purple room again, back in California with my charmer of a cat looking warmly at me from his perch on my bed. I'm surrounded by physical manifestations of God's love in every one of these papers and syllabi and all the cards I have from all of my dear friends--Lauren, Emily, Meredith, Lacy, Tatum, Ali, Hannah, Anne, Nicole and others--and I'm shaken all over again at all the things He's done. It's a new page, yes, but every page has to build on the one before, right?Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-17619645164603805392012-01-03T00:52:00.001-05:002012-01-03T00:52:27.609-05:00What I read in 2011<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Kirk<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
De Tocqueville<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Selections from important American
Founding documents<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Philosophy and epistemology
readings<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Anna Karenina<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Brothers Karamazov<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Eugene Onegin<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Fathers and Sons<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
A Day in the Life<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Gogol, The Coat<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
The Seagull<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
And Quiet Flows the Don<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
The Bedbug and other Short Stories<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Selected Poems – Akhmatova<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Doctor Zhivago<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Poetry Handbook<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
La Vita Nuova<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
All the Fun’s in How You Say a
Thing<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Poetic Diction<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Norton Anthology<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Selected poems / poems by Yeats<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Toward the Gleam<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
With <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Catherine of Siena<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Remember You<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Lord Attenbury’s Emeralds<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Paradiso<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Faerie Queene<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Complete English Poems, Herbert<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Pilgrim’s Progress<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Poems and Prose, Hopkins<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Man who was Thursday<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Great Divorce<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Descent into Hell<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Holy Sonnets, Donne</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Hollow Men, Four Quartets, and
other poems by T.S. Eliot</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Revelation<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Violent Bear It Away<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Power and the Glory<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Norton Anthology of English Lit,
selections<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
She Stoops to Conquer<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Epistemology: Becoming
Intellectually Virtuous<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Beowulf<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
All Hallow’s Eve<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Screwtape Letters<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Out of the Silent Planet<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Perelandra<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Till We Have Faces<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Harry Potter 6<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Harry Potter 7<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
The Hidden Hand<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
Abolition of Man<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
DISCOVERY OF THE YEAR: T.S. Eliot.</div>Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-55084053759968349012011-12-30T22:55:00.000-05:002011-12-30T22:55:01.116-05:00Review: Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo</span></i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">, by Stieg Larsson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Reviewed by Mary Sue Daoud, 12/30/11<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Corporate espionage, libel gone wrong,
sociopathic heroines with a penchant for hacking…and two villains so heinously
evil and insane that they take on the exaggerated feeling of caricatures—that is
the bulk of Stieg Larsson’s first book, <i>The
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo</i> (Vintage Crime, 2008).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> With
all the hype surrounding the series and the movies, I ordered the book from the
library and settled in. I had hoped it would be an intriguing read and a
pleasant way to while away an evening. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> The
book opened intriguingly enough. Journalist and magazine publisher Mikael
Blomkvist was just sentenced for libel against bigtime financier Hans-Erik
Wennerstrom. Found guilty, he was given a whopping fine that cleared him out
and took with it quite a bit of the magazine. Burned out, he left on a leave of
absence in order to take a break, do his jail time, and write the family
history another bigtime CEO and patriarch, Henrik Vanger, hired him to do,
mainly as a cover for the main reason Vanger hired Blomkvist: to take one more
go at the mystery that had dominated Vanger’s life—the forty-year-old case of
Vanger’s missing niece. In exchange, Vanger would give him the information and
evidence Blomkvist would need to take Wennerstrom down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Just
as in any big family, there are lots of interesting characters and subplots whose
stories thicken and enhance the plot as Blomkvist uncovers their stories and
motivations and dialogues with them. To help him along, Blomkvist hires Lisbeth
Salander, a troubled and abused punk with a gift for research in the way of
massive hacking. Together, they uncover the horrible skeletons in the Vanger family
closet—graphic, violent beyond description, involving rape, incest, kidnapping,
torture, murder (several actually), and a variety of other obscenities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> It’s
at the climax, when Blomkvist is in the heinous clutches of the villain, that
the reader realizes that the plot has suddenly taken an extremely ridiculous
twist. Such villains are far more suited to horror stories than this
pseudo-realistic mystery story. Never mind that Larsson felt driven to think
about and write up such dark characters—what possessed him to write a story
with such believable, complex characters like Blomkvist and Salander, then saddle
it with such grotesque villains? What could have been a fairly good story lost
its unity and turned into a lumpy, uneven, out of proportion story with all the
steam gone out of it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Does
evil <i>have</i> to be so grotesque for us
to realize, <i>Oh look, that is, without a
doubt, evil</i>? What about the things the other characters do—things that are
morally questionable and, in some cases, remarkably stupid, like Blomkvist
having three affairs through the course of the book, one of which was a longstanding
one with a married woman (and the husband knows about it and is totally fine
with it.) Why is this book so popular?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> The
book ends relatively happily, with the loose ends more or less tied up, and the
mysteries satisfactorily solved. It could have been a believable book, too, if
the antagonist’s story had matched in tone and in context. But with such
disproportionate evil, the story has the feeling of being written around the
antagonist, and the rest just window dressing to set him off. As he wrote two
other books based on Blomkvist and Salander, that was obviously not intended. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> I
don’t think I’ll be spending more time with Larsson’s stories—where is my
Eliot?!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-45842298295566155332011-12-30T14:36:00.000-05:002011-12-30T14:36:43.331-05:00Ogma: After W.B. Yeats<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I
wish you peace— <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The peaceful solitude of
hard study by lamplight,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Time passing quickly as the
beauties of the Rose increase,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And Elysium breaks into your
sight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I wish for you its ancient
days<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">To catch you in the Druid
tune,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">To mire you down in temple
clays<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">So the light of the lamp becomes
the moon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Of ten thousand years ago,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">When the wind was cold and we who are old still lived on
earth below.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I wish you peace—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The mournful peace of
ancient splendor lost,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Robed in the Druid mist,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Of sentinel trees embossed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">With an ancient script and
an ancient tongue <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">To welcome you home when
your heart is great enough to fit to mine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And the soaring final song
of peace is sung,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And the notes mixed into the
firmament of dark wine,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And the Danaan kind have
brought you into Faerie for me, to my throne,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Where the wind is cold and we who are old now dwell in
Danaan land, alone.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I wish these things for you,
my love, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Because you’ve wandered long.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">My wine tastes much like
you, my love,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And like you, it is strong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The song burns in my veins,
my love,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The song of your new-learned
tongue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">For the wind is cold and you who are young will dwell in
Danaan land unsung.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">So drink to all you’ve lost,
my love, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">For so do I.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Sing for all you’ve gained,
my love,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">For so do I.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">For the wind is cold and we who are old now dwell in Danaan
land below.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Gentium Book Basic"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Gentium Book Basic'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">written for Poetry Class, Fall 2011</span></div>Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-64022491159388054072011-09-11T21:15:00.002-04:002011-09-11T21:15:31.512-04:009/11 Pantoum<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
danger of memory is that it never dies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
was ten and still remember America’s shocked face,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And
the smoke and the ash covered the skies<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On
the day the towers fell from grace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
was ten and still remember America’s shocked face,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And
for a time the rain meant what the poets said,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On
the day the towers fell from grace<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And
war and dissension wed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And
for a time the rain meant what the poets said—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Complacent
ash falls ghostly, thickly gray,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And
war and dissension wed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And
spectral figures loom in the smoke of dead Pompey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Complacent
ash falls ghostly, thickly gray—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Obscuring
the memory of the past ten years<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And
spectral figures loom in the ruins of dead Pompey:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
mournful strings behind the keening of our tears.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Obscured
the memory of the past ten years—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And
this land has written on the wall:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
mournful strings behind the keening of our tears<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Still
cry defiance. Hell was paid; there was no fall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And
this land has written on the wall,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And
the smoke and the ash that covered the skies<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Still
cries defiance. Hell was paid; there was no fall:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Because
the danger of memory is that it never dies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-85337141731615923192011-07-13T19:20:00.000-04:002011-07-13T19:20:13.524-04:00The Logic of the Bible: Creation<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">After twenty years, I think I'm finally beginning to get the silvery outline of the supra-rational logic of the Bible in my mind.</span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">On the one hand, it's very exciting to know that twenty years (nine of which, I've lived consciously Christian; meaning, I know I'm under grace :) ) still isn't enough to comprehend the Word of God. Which is exactly as it should be; there's a reason why people don't worship something they totally understand. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">On the other hand, it's awe-inspiring. I love the order God has set up in the world.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I started to see it several months ago, during a philosophy class. I don't remember who we were studying, but the general gist of what we were discussing was (I think) whether it was possible for God to do something wrong. If not, we couldn't say that He could do anything; if He could do something wrong then He wouldn't be a perfect and holy God then. Of course, theodicy quite rightly was brought up.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The revelation I got was that God created the world.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Some revelation, hunh? Something I've had driven into me only since before I can remember.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But...I don't think it was <i>ex nihilo. </i>Or at least, <i>out of nothing </i>has a more limited meaning than I ascribed to it. I think creation is more properly thought of as <i>out of God. </i></span><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Creation stemmed from the nature of God. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">An issue I suppose I have to face is how to define <i>nothing</i>. No thing. The absence of anything -- material and immaterial, I suppose. Physically, that makes sense. God needed no physical thing to create the world. Hence <i>ex nihilo</i>. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But God couldn't have created the world without creativity, which implies an ability TO create, which implies an active mind and nature. In order to be created, the world NEEDS God (and of course, this is assuming Genesis). Even if before Creation, the world could somehow have existed as a nebulous floating idea (which is Platonic, perhaps, but rather unfeasible), there would have been no way to pull it into reality without the mediation of Christ.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">As I believe God is sovereign, I think He did much more than just pulling it into reality. I believe HE CREATED IT. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I have no idea how to explain what I mean, so I'm going to revert to Tolkien. In "Tree and Leaf" he wrote this:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">"Man, Sub-creator, the refracted light</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">through whom is splintered from a single White</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">to many hues, and endlessly combined</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">in living shapes that move from mind to mind.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">Though all the crannies of the world we filled</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">with Elves and Goblins, though we dared to build</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">Gods and their houses out of dark and light,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">and sowed the seed of dragons, 'twas our right</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">(used or misused). The right has not decayed.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">We make still by the law in which we're made."</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He calls man a Sub-creator, through whom the characteristics of God are separated through the prism of mankind and combined again in different threads, shapes, forms, colors to create "new" things, but within the framework/structure of "the law in which we're made." That law is God's nature, out of which we and the whole world were created.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So when David in Psalm 68 asks the many-peaked mountain of Bashan why it fumes with envy, or when God asks Job in Job 38 if the rain has a father and who has put wisdom in the mind, when Jesus didn't quiet His followers from glorifying Him because the stones would cry out---it makes sense. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">I'm not suggesting some nebulous pantheistic idea here, note. All the world is NOT God (heavens to Betsy, if it was! Why put God in a box, even a very pretty one!). But how much more wonderful is the world when one looks outside and sees why the sun must rest on the trees as a benediction, and why the wind in the leaves sounds the happiness to the peace of the waves on the lake! They can't help it - they were made by a perfect God - "</span>For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God." (I had to get to Romans at some point :D)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">As breathtaking as that is, though, it still doesn't approach human limitations of logic. God created the world and, yeah, creating it out of Himself is jaw-dropping...But, it's not a perfect world.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Achingly true, that.</span><br />
<br />
to be continued.</div><div><br />
</div>Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-74256719430780526382011-06-04T10:56:00.002-04:002011-06-29T19:22:10.070-04:00Well, I've caught up with the times?I went to the library after work yesterday to chat with Mrs. Pensgard and get some books to read, and they're lurking in the back of my mind calling my name. I started one last night that I suppose I shall have to finish, although I don't really want to. It's the last Harry Potter. I started reading the series summer before last, I think, and I'm finally down to the last one. Boring, mediocre series -- I don't see what all the fuss is about.<br />
<div><br />
</div><div>There is a clear enough demarcation between good and bad; Christians don't have to be worried about that. I forget where I read it, but someone had said that what was bad about it is that it taught kids that matter can be changed by magic. So what? What're the philosophical implications of that? In fact, I think that can even be a good perception to have - depending on one's understanding of magic. Three or four hundred years ago, the breakthroughs science has reached today would seem to be magic - would CHANGE MATTER. If people didn't think that matter could serve a purpose to create something different or something previous generations hadn't imagined, isn't that a bad thing? Take it a step further: what about creation ex nihilo? Or even make it personal: when we cook or bake, aren't we changing the molecular structure of food? That's one of my favorite things about baking - that grainy-looking goop turns into delicious things with totally different color, texture, smell, taste, etc. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Haha, I was supposed to be explaining why it's mediocre. I think it fails as good fantasy because it doesn't have something transcendent it is fighting for. Let me explain. Harry is fighting Voldemort not primarily because Voldemort is bad, but because Voldemort killed his parents and wants to kill him. Perhaps that's a minor quibble, but I'm not convinced that, had Harry's parents not died, Harry would still have gone on the quest for the Horcruxes (which Rowling took an unforgivably long time to get to, anyway) with the same sort of passion. That is, if anyone can call his bratty tragic-hero-with-an-inflated-ego-bigger-than-God's-complex a proper drive to pursue the good. Granted, that could still change before I finish book 7 (I'm 450 pages in) but considering how massive the series is, it'd be incredibly difficult to do without pulling some incredible miracle out of Voldemort's nonexistent nose. </div><div><br />
</div><div>When I think of fantasy, I think of pursuing a transcendent good. That's why I love Lord of the Rings so very much - there are men of high values like courage, integrity, honor, loyalty and love, who have an appreciation for the old fading or forgotten beauty - who have <i>saudade;</i> who fight for the sake of conquering evil<i>, </i>for the sake of gaining freedom, for the sake of being free from fear, free to love, free to live life with joy and happiness. Stories like that inspire people to pursue transcendent things. Harry Potter, despite the magic, is mundane. It doesn't have overarching themes that pull the reader in and make him part of the story (well, I guess I shouldn't generalize like that. It certainly does not pull me in, at any rate.) I don't see virtues I want to emulate in Harry Potter; in fact, reading Harry Potter makes me very happy I have a mother who is blunt in telling me what's wrong with me (basically, being willing to slap me upside the head when I start pulling out angsty-ness like dear old Harry's.) It's a book written for the modern conception of teenagers, the ones who want excitement without being challenged to shape up. </div><div><br />
</div><div>That's not to say Rowling doesn't try - she pulls that whole love thing from Dumbledore in book 5 or 6, I can't remember which. There's the whole fairness to the Muggles thing as well. But how well are these pulled off? Harry the Hero is so thickheaded he doesn't understand the overwhelming love and loyalty Ron and Hermione show him in coming with him, AND he's stupid enough to push them away when he needs them the most? (cf: Ron leaving in book 7.) How could Harry allow Ron and Hermione to walk into danger with him but let Ginny stay? (Though of course she, like a good little Potterling, carries on the resistance at the home front.) Harry is so wrapped up in his own heroism and his own sufferings it IS a wonder he manages to get that far. I'm with Snape on Harry's character. And certainly, without Ron and Hermione Harry would've failed a long time ago. And about the Muggles - Hermione wipes her own parents minds, "out of love." In my humble opinion, that makes Muggles look as stupid as Voldemort thinks they are. Are there any Muggles in the story arc that are given the spotlight as good people worth saving?? Not even the woman Harry and the others save, in Book 7, looks worth saving. Rowling gives readers no reason to really pity the Muggles and want Harry to save them. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Final opinion: mediocre. Three stars. Would have been four stars if the series had been three books instead of seven. Humph.</div><div><br />
ADDENDUM:<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;">Also, now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder if I'm not wrong in saying that I don't see why Christians make such a fuss about it. I suppose, in a sense, Harry Potter is radically opposed to Christianity. In Harry Potter, the hero of the world is an arrogant little kid with a hero complex and a lot of issues. He's extremely human, in the vulnerable imperfect sense of the word. And as a Christian, I'm used to thinking </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;">of humankind in that sense. Not that we're irredeemable, but it took a proper hero - a perfect one - to save the world. Jesus was perfect; a perfect sacrifice to offer salvation. I AM used to superhuman superheroes. Harry is very ordinary with all sorts of faults. Actually, I think that IS his weakness! Why should he save the world when there are so many better qualified than he? (Ahem, for example, Hermione! The Weasely twins! Professor McGonagall!)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div><div><br />
</div><div>This post makes me laugh. It's right on the edge of ranting and raving :P. I think next time I shall have to talk about Ayn Rand.</div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div>Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-687163996348410402010-12-03T23:15:00.000-05:002010-12-03T23:29:30.240-05:00Poetry!It has been a terribly long time, but honestly I have no time to blog with all the school papers :). I'm loving college, even when I have to snatch time away to write poetry that bubble up out of nowhere. Here are some of the pieces I've written - I'd love your feedback!!<div><br /></div><div><div id="blog_message" style="margin-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"Old Devil Rain"</span></span></div><div id="blog_message" style="margin-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Sigh.<br />Step outside and blow a raspberry<br />under my umbrella.<br />Trudge all the way to Founders'<br />and shake myself like a dog because<br />my umbrella's too cheap.<br />Sit in class, miffed at needing artificial light at 12:20 PM.<br />Class over. Outside, and sigh again.<br />No.<br />STOP.<br />Huff another sigh, and close my umbrella.<br />"Look here, you!" Fist shaking at the sky.<br />"You're dismal and depressing and make me miserable.<br />You got the better of me this time and you will again<br />BUT<br />not for long because<br />God is coming soon and all depressing things shall be banished--<br />Although I wouldn't mind a kind, gentlemanly rain just for those who like it, poor things.<br />There.<br />Take that,<br />Old Devin Rain!</span></span></span></div></div><div id="blog_message" style="margin-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></span></span></div><div id="blog_message" style="margin-bottom: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >On Watching the Snow</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >What does it mean to watch the snow<br />Slowly falling, slowly go<br />Across the window, throughout the day<br />Over the hills and far away?<br />What does it mean to watch a man<br />Forging ahead through peltering snow<br />On the through the valley, on through the way<br />Thinking of home all through the day?<br />What does it mean when home he has come<br />Home from his working, home to the sum;<br />Life is not wanting in measure or span<br />But isn’t complete without God the I AM.</span></span></span></div>Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-47629412040255560372009-05-25T16:09:00.000-04:002009-05-25T16:10:52.649-04:00my senior addressFor the last four years, our lives have been mainly schoolwork, preparation for the adult life on the horizon. Time has wrought a change in us; nothing is the same as it was in elementary school. As my classmate Caleb told me, “Pick something and it has not been that way before!” And yet, amidst all the swirling mists of change there’s something looming solidly in the background, something that wasn’t there when we first began high school. Something that we saw in our parents but not in us, not until recently. It is the knowledge of God, the steady realization that He is here with us, He is our rock, our friend, and more than anything it has become a passion with us to glorify Him.<br /><br />As 1 Corinthians puts it, “Therefore, whether you eat or you drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” My parents had drummed that verse into me and it had the desired effect; I know that, frankly, I am human and only human. But in a lot of ways, that freed me, especially when I began attending junior college in my junior year. Faced with a collective worldview so wildly different than the Christian one, I began to understand what it means to truly glorify God and how important it is to do so. To begin with, the Bible tells us we are supposed to, in Romans 15: 6. “that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We actually have reasons to want to worship him. For me, the knowledge that someone who is absolutely perfect purified my imperfections by dying for me leaves me shaken. As Job’s friend Zophar asks, “Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven -- what can you do? Deeper than Sheol -- what can you know?” And though the question was wrongly put, it still rings true. I flatter myself that as one fond of literature I’ve encountered some of the heights and depths humanity can reach and yet, not a single one of my favorite characters can aspire to such depths as that!<br /><br />As Elizabeth Browning asks, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” We want to glorify God to the best of our abilities, but our abilities are still only just beginning to develop - thanks to our education and our godly parents. Our Biblical foundations have been formed, our passions, talents, ideals have formed and we’re learning to apply them to our own lives. Now is a time of making connections, of understanding consequences, of seeing the bigger picture…and our place in it. Our experiences in high school have helped to give us a goal - though some of us are still seeking God’s direction, others of us are hoping to be arborists, prosecutors, and professors. Education has shown us how best we can glorify God; it’s shown us how God is alive, is real.<br /><br />My favorite author and apologist Dorothy L. Sayers wrote an essay called The Lost Tools of Learning, in which she neatly summed up the purpose of education: “The sole true end of education is simply this: to teach men how to learn for themselves; and whatever instruction fails to do this is effort spent in vain.” To learn for themselves - not to be spoon-fed information like so many fledglings in a nest. To learn to discern between fact and fiction -- fact and opinion -- meaning and connotation -- between, substantially, right and wrong. And once we know something to be right or wrong it is our duty to uphold it. “Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin.” James 4:17. Our education has forced us to grow mentally and spiritually, and having a Biblical perspective on the things we learned has shown us the difference between being in the world and not of the world. Hence, the necessity of loving God has become so much nearer to our hearts. In the end, the passing of knowledge is a function of education; the fundamental love of learning is the purpose of education.<br /><br />No discussion of education amongst us especially would be complete without mentioning the role Harvest Christian Academy played in guiding our parents. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Frediani. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Gowen. Thanks to the countless people who’ve been instrumental in our lives through the years - the grandparents and uncles and aunts, the pastors, mentors, teachers, debate and speech coaches, friends, and finally and most importantly, our parents. Thank you, not just for academics, but for the values, principles, and ideals you’ve bequeathed to us - the splendid Biblical foundation that we stand upon. There had to be someone to teach us how to love learning, and as I grow older I realize more and more how brave my parents are! To brave the storms of public disapproval, to keep us indoors during school hours, to make sure that no opportunity was lost for a bit of learning, not to mention giving up free time and privacy for everything from grubby hugs and sticky kisses to darkly muttered words about the state of the union and the socialistic aspects of government today. Dads, Moms, a thousand thanks from each of us to all of you. Your love, wisdom, and guidance have been much appreciated, even though we don’t always show it! Jessica in particular wants to say “thank you for taking on my education at home, for being patient and loving through all the various seasons over the past four years, but especially over my entire 18 years.” Well said!<br /><br />Now, we ask for something else. By God’s grace, you’ve prepared our minds for action. You’ve set us on the right road. “The heavens declare the glory of God,” says Psalms 19, but if one only begins to dig (as education has taught us to do) they don’t only declare but shout the glory of God. The growing part He’s had in our lives as we’ve begun maturing has highlighted the change in us. We can see how we’ve changed; we’ve gone from ignoring God because He was big and didn’t fit into our plans to finding Him intrinsically necessary. Once upon a time our passions were playing house or cars, but now they’re to live in the service of God. That’s widened our horizons explosively - enough, we dare to think, to begin going out into the world -- to assume responsibility for ourselves -- to dare to stand up for what we believe in, what we know to be right according to the Bible. We stand on the brink of adulthood, at the door of our homes, and see Time standing with giants on his shoulders, waiting for us. He has his orders to let us join the throng of people following him as he marches inexorably on to the horizon God has set for him. Only God can know what we will be in the future, whether we will stand as strong, godly men and women throughout time, but for now we have such dreams - “No one of our age has ever taken power,” said William Wilberforce in Amazing Grace. To which his friend William Pitt replied, “Which is why we're too young to realize certain things are impossible. Which is why we will do them anyway.” We are indeed young, but God is yet working in us. Maybe we‘ll never stand above the rest of the people, but God has given us talents and passions, and at the least we promise to use those for His glory!Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-28089620013092917652009-04-19T15:34:00.000-04:002009-04-19T15:35:42.211-04:00I stand amid the dust of mounded years.There are days when I’m just bubbling over with hope and excitement for the future. Days when there’s a peacefulness in my smile, when there’s a look in my eyes that I can see in the mirror. “God’s in His Heaven, All’s right with the world!” -- when I first memorized that poem for school I thought that was an inane poem and all that it merited was a huge “duh!” But as the years have passed it’s come up more and more in my thoughts until I realized that it expressed the type of hope and joy that only God can give.<br /><br />I can’t describe what it’s like to feel the love of God. To know that you’re nowhere near the perfection God asks for and yet to know that you’re His, that Jesus died for YOU, and that despite all the pain I’ve caused Him He loves me. HE LOVES ME. One cannot taste of God’s love and turn back to unbelief; there is truly “no turning back.”<br /><br />Today’s one of those days, and it’s an important one to me because it’s strengthened my faith. Yesterday I got the needs-based scholarship offer from PHC, and, well, it’s not enough. As it stands right now, my parents can’t afford it, and both my parents and I firmly refuse to go into debt to pay it off. It doesn’t seem like everything’s settled yet, though - I was told they really want me and there’s stuff going on behind the scenes but altogether the scholarships will pay only 47% of tuition when there’s a max of 80%. And there are a couple of different payment prices listed so we’re not sure which one they’re going off of. So whereas it was “yes until we get the final cost” it’s now “no until we get the final cost.”Sure I’m disappointed, but I haven’t lost hope. As K was singing to me yesterday, “My God is so BIG, so strong and so mighty there’s nothing my God cannot do…FOR YOU!” And although it seems like God is closing the door to Patrick Henry College I’m still excited for the future. Because if it’s not PHC it’ll be something better for me, at least in the long run, and frankly Patrick Henry would be pretty hard to beat.<br /><br />So much can happen to this crazy world of ours in our future. Everything’s changing but I have the privilege of a firm foundation. I know Whom I have believed, and goodness but that’s goosebump-worthy. Nothing can harm me…I am His, and the world cannot stand against God…Then even Death must be a gentleman.<br /><br />I say let change come. Let the future stand in its unknown, menacing palace, but let it be wary of those whom God has claimed as His own. We’ll fall and stumble a thousand times, (I know I do) but He promises never to leave or forsake us and that knowledge is enough to strengthen and hearten the weakest Christian. I am not afraid of what the coming years will bring, though I know they will not be easy even if I do go to Patrick Henry. Perhaps especially if I go to PHC. Perhaps God’s plan for me is entirely different than mine is, but so what? Much better the plan of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, LOVING God than that of a fragile, limited, imperfect young one still only just beginning to know God. It is a house built on rock that I have been given.<br /><br />I suppose really, this is what it means to be human…and yet, to lean on God. God only grant that I serve Him with everything He’s given me!Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-78203005203947293992009-02-19T23:14:00.000-05:002009-03-02T16:32:42.022-05:00So many words to speak that the tongue cannot utter.I’m in a strange mood today. Piano and rain and poetry would put a person in a reflective, melancholy mood, I suppose.<br /><br /><br />[quote]A shadowy tumult stirs the dusky air;<br />Sparkle the delicate dews, the distant snows;<br />The great deep thrills – for through it everywhere<br />The breath of Beauty blows.<br /><br />-AE[/quote]<br /><br /><br />Then CdnReader’s death. She had friended me (an online friend) shortly before falling ill, and though I had heard that she was ill I didn’t know that it was cancer. I had been looking forward to building up a friendship with her, because the few poems of hers that I’d read pointed to a kind, sincere, genuine woman. And now she’s dead.<br /><br /><br />[quote] Here sense dissolves, combines to print only<br />These bitten choirs of stone on water,<br />To the tumble of old cloth bells,<br />The cadging of confetti pigeons,<br />A boatman singing from his long black coffin…<br /><br />- Lawrence Durrell [/quote]<br /><br /><br />Throughout the years, death has fascinated many poets and authors. I can understand why. Some see Death as the bogeyman, others as a friend. Hades, it seems, has many faces, and chooses a different one to show every person.<br /><br /><br />I am not afraid of dying young. Being a Christian puts a different spin on death, but regardless of that, I don’t think that whatever I can or will do will leave a long-lasting mark in the world. So it doesn’t matter – I’ll live and die and be forgotten soon enough, but there are some who should never be forgotten – those whom Time carries on his shoulders, though they are dead. And nearly all the other human beings – all the world – that walk with him on the long path to its hidden end are too busy scrutinizing the dust to look up at the stars.<br /><br /><br />[quote] I know you: solitary griefs,<br />Desolate passions, aching hours!<br />I know you: tremulous beliefs<br />Agonized hopes, and ashen flowers!”<br /><br />- Lionel Johnson[/quote]<br /><br /><br />The world is denied a revolution every time someone with talent dies young – the book I’m finishing up (Modern British Poetry, 1963) has shown me reams of poets I’d never known of – and my favorites were inevitably those who died in WWI. Look:<br /><br /><br />[quote]Love is a flame: - we have beaconed the world’s night.<br />A city: - and we have built it, these and I.<br />An emperor: - we have taught the world to die.<br /><br />[…]<br /><br />And to keep loyalties young, I’ll write those names<br />Golden for ever, eagles, crying flames,<br />And set them as a banner, that men may know<br />To dare the generations, burn, and blow<br />Out on the wind of Time, shining and streaming…<br /><br />[…]<br /><br /><br />But the best I’ve known<br />Stays here, and changes, breaks, grows old, is blown<br />About the winds of the world, and fades from brains<br />Of living men, and dies.<br /><br /><br />-Rupert Brooke[/quote]<br /><br /><br />Somewhere in the world it’s raining on the graves of the dead – the dead who with courage and love endowed the old battlefields with a dignity that they could not otherwise attain. What a tragedy that the world forgets so quickly – that we look forward to “change” and a “new age” without any reverence, any remembrance for the lovely old beliefs and principles.<br /><br /><br />[quote]I, too, saw God through mud—<br />The mud that cracked on cheeks when wretches smiled.<br />War brought more glory to their eyes than blood,<br />And gave their laughs more flee than shakes a child.<br /><br />[…]<br /><br />I have perceived much beauty<br />In the hoarse oaths that kept our courage straight;<br />Heard music in the silentness of duty;<br />Found peace where shell-storms spouted reddest spate.<br /><br />[…]<br /><br />You shall not hear their mirth:<br />You shall not come to think them well content<br />By any jest of mine. These men are worth<br />Your tears: You are not worth their merriment.<br /><br />-Wilfred Owen[/quote]<br /><br />I am haunted by ghosts; half-maddened by the memory of things that never were, people I’ve never been. People tell me to “enjoy my youth” but I’ve lived it and I've died. a thousand times, vicariously, in different times, different lands, as different people, and every single one of them still grips me and fills me with ideas…but I’m stuck in this hamburger and hip hop world that refuses to budge in the direction of “progress,” only down a side-road that will end when all of Time does.<br /><br />And all that we could have been will never be. All that we were set up for – through literature and ideas and principles and courage and music and poetry – will have been the fleeting dreams of my ghosts.<br /><br />And now where once our fathers played<br />There lies a ship, for dead a grave.<br />Whose lives were these? The stormy<br />Gull above the waters knows<br />As well as we.<br /><br />Sitting at the computer, amidst a flurry of pens and notebooks, books with faded spines opened and laying facedown beside me. One in my lap, and the outside world waiting, and frankly my dear I don't care!<br /><br />A scholar I am, and a scholar I will remain.<br />I won’t forget.Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-13516451142305324622009-01-08T22:45:00.000-05:002009-01-08T22:46:15.460-05:00<em>Psalm 19<br />1. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.</em><br /><em>2. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.</em><br /><em>3. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.</em><br /><em>4. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,<br />5. Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices like a strong man to run its race.</em><br /><em>6. Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end;<br />And there is nothing hidden from its heat. </em><br /><em>7. The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;</em><br /><em>8. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;</em><br /><em>9. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.</em><br /><em>10. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.</em><br /><em>11. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. </em><br /><em>12. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.</em><br /><em>13. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. </em><br /><em>14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart<br />Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.</em><br /><br />As a Christian, I’ve always loved this Psalm, and love it even more as time passes and I grow. Having just finished an astronomy course at my local college, I begin to really understand what “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork” really means. It means that on an astronomical scale, Earth is one of the smallest objects in the universe. It means that all we know and admire on a personal level is insignificant. It means that no matter how high the heights humankind reaches are, they will never be able to express the glory of God as space does. It means that there are things so much bigger than we are, and just by their existence they glorify God in ways that we never can.<br /><br />Throughout time, it’s like humanity has been holding a conversation with the universe. As science progresses and we grow, we glean more information about the heavens – but they’re keeping the conversation entirely focused on the glory of God, and they’re using the universal language of beauty and nature. Even when humans put different spins on them what we learn still rather loudly proclaims the glory of God. I like to think that somewhere, space is still reverberating with the songs the angels sang when Jesus was born.<br /><br />Yet considering that God and His precepts are perfect, it makes total sense that all that is great worships Him. My favorite part of the Psalm is verses 7 – 11, which focuses on a number of aspects that really are the crux of the Bible. Before Jesus’ death and resurrection, the law of the Lord was just that – rules and regulations without end. After He died and rose again, however, it changed to this: That whoever believes on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. So indeed, the law of the Lord is perfect. While Jesus was on earth, His testimony was sure; nothing He did could be construed wrongly and therefore doubted. It was sure because He stood on Biblical statutes; the principles that are one of the best parts of being a Christian. So when my Lord commands, I follow, knowing that his commandments are pure, and that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and that his judgments are always just and right.<br /><br />How can I fail to be inspired? The chapter goes on to say that these are more to be desired than much fine gold, and from the bottom of my heart I agree. There is so much in this world that is far more valuable than material goods. I love principles, and I love ideas. I love courage, wisdom, and honor, yet despite the fact that there are those in today’s world, in no one are they manifested as perfectly as they are in the God of the Bible, the God that Psalm 19 so wonderfully describes. When I read this psalm I get excited about life because God gave it to me, to study the heavens that glorify Him and the precepts that exalt Him. To learn them and claim them for my own, to use to glorify Him myself and to walk with Him. I’ve already believed in Him, and this psalm tells me whom it is I am so blessed and so loved to be able to have a relationship with Him. All the beauty we see in the universe was created by Him. So I am exhilarated to be alive and in this world. There is so much I want to do and accomplish as both a young adult and as a Christian. I want to join the heavens in declaring the glory of God and that’s just the start.Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-63035440060171416072008-12-27T18:03:00.000-05:002009-01-02T16:20:55.887-05:00HandsI hate having to delete the first entry I got a comment on, but I'm entering the poem in a contest and it's a requirement not to have it published, even electronically :(.Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-42317591495399036182008-12-21T13:46:00.000-05:002008-12-21T13:48:30.182-05:00I am so Blessed.It's only four days till Christmas.<br /><br />HOW DID THAT HAPPEN!!?? Seriously, I've never been so unprepared for Christmas! I bought gifts on Thursday and I still have to make some. I haven't even thought about baking except for a Yule Log which I'll have to start tomorrow.<br /><br />Yowsers. But guess what? I've already got a head start on my own Christmas gifts...from my community college professors.<br /><br />As you know, I've taken Astronomy and English this semester.<br /><br />Now, my English class has been very interesting. Throughout the semester we read selections from educator Paulo Freire, art critic John Berger, and weird philosopher Michel Foucault, and a full length work by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Although I enjoyed the Marquez, I didn't like the others at all. Though I agreed with elements in them, they were primarily weird socialistic liberal atheistic stuff; they would point out a "problem", but the opposite of the problem would be worse than the problem. And there was a lot of government conspiracy stuff.<br /><br />Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the class. Now that I think about it that sounds especially strange, considering how infuriated I got at my classmates and the material we read at times. But there was a lot of good discussion/debate and, quiddities notwithstanding, my professor is an excellent teacher (I want to be a professor like her, only far more conservative. And we'll read classics, thank you very much :p) and I could really see my fellow students getting better and more comfortable with making forays into understanding the material on their own.<br /><br />About halfway through the semester, I think she realized that I am more comfortable with literature than others and we struck up a sort of acquaintanceship. I'd follow her around campus afterwards, discussing what we read and where I disagreed and why and how I could tell it wouldn't work, etc. till the end of the semester.<br /><br />My English final was on Thursday, but my professor had arranged it so that all we had to do was drop in at whatever time. So she and I were alone in the classroom together, talking. She told me that I am "not a typical (name of the college) student" and that "I should get out of here fast!" She knows about PHC, so when I told her that I got accepted she said this: "Oh good! Congratulations!! Good for you -- you definitely should go!" Then she laughed. "Not that I'd send anyone to that conservative school, but good for you!!" Then she asked me what I thought of the full-length book we read and we got to talking about languages. I started to say that my favorite author Dorothy L. Sayers had gotten me interested in classics and languages, but I got no further than "My favorite author Dorothy L. Sayers--"<br /><br />"Me too!!"<br /><br />"No way!!"<br />Now what sort of a quiddity is that? She's read all of her works, even her translation of the Divine Comedy, and she loves her! The first person I've ever met whose read DLS without me pushing her! (But how she could read DLS's nonfiction work and the Divine Comedy and still be liberal and socialist is beyond me :lol:)<br /><br />That was fun :). I hope there are more classes like that to come in college :D.<br />________________________________<br /><br />Then there's my astronomy final, which was supposed to be tomorrow. I was really worried about how well I'd do! There's gonna be a constellation quiz, multiple choice, and FIVE short answer essays we're supposed to write in class. He tells us what they're going to be on so we can send him practice essays to critique. I sent him four last Saturday and one last Monday. Yesterday I checked into the online page to see if he had returned a critique and I got this email:<br /><br />[QUOTE]Mary Sue,<br />Thanks for these essays. You did very well on the first two about the evolution of the sun and other stars, and fairly good on the last few - it looks as though you were getting tired. But most important, you showed that you already have mastered the material in our course, and you do not have to take the final exam. In essence, you just did. Your grade for the class will be an "A", and you can relax on Monday and start enjoying the holildays early. (You still should come in to finish the lab, though!)<br /><br />Well done and congratulations on your fine work this term. You are clearly ready to enter Patrick Henry, and I think you'll shine there as must as you did in our class. I sincerely hope you found it interesting and that you saw your scholarship and academic skills, as well as your awareness of the universe, increase with the work you did. Thanks for the great effort during the term.<br />[/QUOTE]<br /><br />:goof::eek2::eek2::eek:<br /><br />:banana::banana::banana::cool:<br /><br />God is so good. I'm really pleased, especially because I had to fight to make sure I was on top of things in my astronomy. And, well, there was a heavy philosophical element in both these classes, so they've both shown me that I am making the right choice in choosing to be a Lit Prof for my career. I've not doubted that, but it's really encouraging to be reassured about it!<br />I'm really floored that God has given me a talent for words and literature. It's really incredible, this world of ours, isn't it? :) The entirety of the world of literature -- and it's mine. I'm here. I'm home. I belong.<br /><br />So, one more semester at the community college and then it's off to Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia.<br /><br />I'm ready to go. I've set down roots here in California, but it's time for new horizons and different people. New things to do and learn. New people to meet.<br /><br />I am so blessed.Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-22219353876501654992008-12-17T11:13:00.000-05:002008-12-17T11:17:48.968-05:00Surprise, SurpriseAnd the winner of Time's Person of the Year 2008 is....<br /><br />*drumroll please*<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Barack Obama!</span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"></span><br />*cheers as the band breaks into the Stars and Stripes Forever.*<br /><br />No way! What a surprise!! I <em>never ever </em>would have expected that! I mean, whoda thunk?? Our socialist, terrorist-leaning, pro-abortion president-elect??<br /><br />Yah. Government gone wrong. Yes I do know I'm the one in a million who thinks so.Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-23346024845462999472008-11-29T16:44:00.000-05:002008-11-29T16:46:07.881-05:00AstronomyThis semester I've been taking three classes: astronomy, astronomy lab, and English 1A.<br /><br />One thing I've really been enjoying about my astronomy class is the continually growing sense of the insignificance of the human race. I love it!<br /><br />My professor gave a really fascinating example of the immensity of the universe last class. He told us to hold out our hand and look at a thumbnail. Then, imagine that you cut it into a million pieces. Each millionth of a thumbnail is the equivalent of a picture of a deep space sky...of hundreds of galaxies. Galaxies, not stars. Galaxies have up to a hundred billion stars in them. This picture, I repeat, was a millionth of a thumbnail sized piece of sky.<br /><br />(My professor holds that with such a number of galaxies there has GOT to be at least one planet with extraterrestrials on it. )<br /><br />The week before we learned about the dangerous places in the universe. oooooooh!! First there are the stars. To us they're small, but in reality they're huge!! Our Sun, which is also a star, is actually on the lower range of star masses. Stars work through nuclear fusion; they come in different colors according to their temperature. Usually the bigger, hotter stars are blue; the smaller, cooler stars are red. The biggest ones collapse and explode in something called supernovae. The smaller ones cast off their outer layers, which are made of different elements, in planetary nebulae, leaving the core behind as a corpse called a white dwarf (which is what will happen to our sun in supposedly five billion years.) They're hotter than anything we can ever dream of -- I think I've read somewhere that the hottest temperature miners measured was 300-some. That is absolutely NOTHING in comparison with the thousand degrees absolute temperature of the stars. And they're HUGE!!! Hundreds of times the size of the sun!<br /><br />Second there are the black holes. They're unbelievable! They form from supernovae; they are the cores of the planets that gravity has compressed so much that the..whatsitcalled...the escape velocity would be greater than the speed of light. Nothing is greater than the speed of light; therefore nothing can escape. Black holes are literally a rip in the fabric of space and time...and they are thousands of times the size of the sun. And -- get this -- astronomers think there is one lurking in the Milky Way Galaxy. Although, we're not in danger of being sucked in, because black holes aren't dangerous until you are really close -- and we're not. They suck in stuff in an accretion disk --as it pulls stuff in they become stretched out around the black hole, revolving faster and faster, giving out energy in the form of radiation, until it gets sucked into the black hole.<br /><br />Then there is the immensity of the universe. The universe is expanding, and scientists can neither hypothesize nor theorize a limit. Humankind is gloriously insignificant.<br /><br />Here's why that excites me. First off, you are all familiar with both the heights and depths of humanity. The awe-inspiring ideals - love, courage, hope, kindness, gentleness, humility. We have truly been endowed by our Creator with an amazing, almost limitless array of minds. But we're still just a planet in the midst of a galaxy, of countless galaxies. Our Einsteins, our Dostoevskys, our Tolkiens, our Sayers, and we're still nothing. Does what I'm trying to say make sense? We're great (thanks to what God has done for us and given us) but there are things far greater, far more powerful than we -- and beyond being exciting they are also ample evidence for the Creator.<br /><br />Which brings me to the one thing that really, REALLY irritates me about my class. I've got a splendid professor -- he's unassuming, well-read, knowledgeable, kind, and in short, a terrific man.But he believes in evolution. All the science of astronomy is built on this theory of evolution. It drives me crazy! I don't believe in evolution; for me it is "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."The problem is, I know nothing of "celestial" evolution. Terrestrial, fine, I know enough to be able to offer some sort of rebuttal but the stars...I have no idea...and I refuse to believe the evolutionary theory because this class, evolutionary though it may be, has still only served to cement my love for my King and His Creation. So, though I know naught of the evolution of the stars I do know they didn't evolve, neither do they take billions of years to form, live, and die.<br /><br />Doubtless some of those reading will think this is stupidity. Perhaps...yet what I believe is partly based on faith. I know that the Bible is right in the matter of celestial evolution because the Bible has proven right in everything I know for fact and everything I know from experience or personality or understanding or emotions.<br /><br />I am His and He is mine.Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3532152866380461990.post-86860519556521092432008-11-22T16:33:00.000-05:002008-11-22T16:47:32.688-05:00I have a voice!<span style="font-family:georgia;"><em>My heart is fraught with yearnings deep concealed,</em></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><em>With strivings of a spirit unresigned --</em></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><em>Ye burning thoughts! O be ye confined,</em></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><em>Lest in too fierce a fire my soul be steeled!</em></span><br /><em> ~James Fenimore Cooper, Jr.</em><br /><br />I always thought it would be years before I felt comfortable in wanting to make myself heard - in sharing what I have learned throughout the years - in essence, being unafraid to say what I think. But now at the age of seventeen I can't confine my burning thoughts anymore.<br /><br />Doubtless "burning thoughts" seems a bit melodramatic, but sitting here in my bedroom, looking at my books, I feel justified in using Cooper's words.<br /><br />I read, and that word - that four letter word, come to think of it - means so much to me I don't know where to begin.<br /><br />I read, so I have kept company with the greats, from whom I've learned ideas long forgotten, long since resigned to the depths of Time. I am the child of a thousand lands, and I love them all. I have lived since the dawn of time.<br /><br />I have lived, and I have loved so many times...through a book.<br /><br />Can anyone feel so deeply and not speak out? Especially if something one loves so dearly is fading away. In the world of 2008 I have only seen echoes of those things I love best, and they are fading away unremembered.<br /><br />The world is losing something infinitely precious as the old ideas, the old principles, the old values, and the old heroes become nothing more but stories, not worth the time spent reading them.<br /><br />I don't want to forget them; I don't think I can. I've noticed that anything can make me remember them and so love them more.<br /><br />Hence the name of this blog: Memento Mori. Remember you are going to die.<br /><br />But just because you'll die doesn't mean what you've said, who you are, should be forgotten. That's what I'm fighting for -- to ensure that everything that once was will not be forgotten in the light of our new discoveries and mindsets.<br /><br />As the song goes,<br /><em>"Remember, I will still be here,</em><br /><em>As long as you hold me in your memory.</em><br /><em>Remember, when your dreams have ended,</em><br /><em>Time can be transcended.</em><br /><em>I live forever.</em><br /><em>Remember me."</em><br /><em> ~Remember Me, sung by Josh Groban.</em><br /><br /><em><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></em>Mary Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13344042018650100101noreply@blogger.com3