Welcome to Seminary

From Owl To Eagle

In May 2007 I completed my Honors B.A. in the History of Ideas at a large state university in the South East. I will refrain from mentioning the specific university for reasons that will become clear soon enough. Neither have I published my name and state of residence. I am currently enrolled at a school of theology affiliated with a private, top-tier, internationally ranked research university in the South East. O.K....so you have your choice: Duke? Emory? Perhaps Vanderbilt or Wake Forest? You decide. A reasonably clever person will be able to figure this out with just a few clicks of the mouse, but I can't make it too easy.

I will be using this blog primarily as a way of kvetching and kvelling on my frustrating, enlightening, shocking, inspiring, joyous, absurd, profound, and profane experiences as an academic surrounded by future ministers and chaplains. Don't get me wrong; I'm proud to have been accepted into this highly selective program, and am happy with my decision to attend. But in just my first three weeks, I have been confronted with odd events that are specific to the seminary experience. They are particularly odd to someone who grew up within the public school system. Let me put it this way: I am no longer subject to the separation of Church and State. I have been pinning these experiences to the mental cork board I like to call, "Welcome to Seminary." As you can imagine, the mental cork board is getting rather overcrowded. Hence, the creation of this blog. I desperately needed to do some reshuffling from mental to electronic.

From Eagle to Spartan
In May of 2009, I completed the Master of Theological Studies degree at that major research university in the Southeast whose mascot is the eagle. Now, I am enrolled in a Master of Library and Information Science program at San Jose State University. (They are the Spartans....GO SPARTANS!) The program is online, so I have not moved from the Bible Belt to the Left Coast, more's the pity. Then again, still being here in this wasteland of hypocrisy, superstition, and latent racism makes for some fabulous commentary!

So, I have decided to keep the blog going. And instead of switching formats, I've decided to stick with the religion theme. It is, after all, my favorite doormat upon which I love to wipe my feet. I will also be including social and political commentary related to religion and/or its siblings: intolerance, ignorance and bigotry. Besides, all the other students and professors in the MLIS program are entirely too sensible, well-informed, and level-headed to make good targets for my sarcasm. They are just no fun at all!! On the other hand, it's lovely being in classes with them.

So my dear and loyal readers, you may look forward to many more Pointed Rants, Random Musings, Sermons of the Week, Quotables, Cartoons, and other fun stuff. And probably some news from the Library Science world, but I'll try to keep it interesting!

From Spartan to Barista
As noted in a recent post below, I only made it through one semester of Library School as I found it mind-numbingly boring. I wandered aimlessly for a while, submitting CVs for many colleges, think tanks, and various other non-profits and smartypants factories. Nothing. Not a blip on the radar. For over a year. Until, this past January, a wee but mighty Korean-American went off on a Facebook rant, and BOOM! the Coffee Party was born. I became involved in the movement within a couple weeks of the FB fan page going live, and recently took on the responsibilities of Manager of Operations for the Movement, and am currently heading up planning for the first National Convention. SO! look forward to my continued lashing of the religious nutties, and now the political nutties (on both the Right and the Left!) as well. Oh, this is gonna be sooooo much fun...

Don't Get Pithy With Me: Some of my Favorite Quotes

"Can you, for a moment, imagine how depressing it is to teach five centuries of masculine ineptitude? History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is history? History is women following behind with the bucket." Mrs. Lintott from the stageplay/film "The History Boys"
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"I am going to turn this boy into a decent, God-fearing Christian if I have to break every bone in his body!" Mr. Babcock from the film "Auntie Mame"
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"I like Jesus; it's Christians I have a problem with." Mahatma Gandhi
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"I believe there are some women who shouldn't be mothers, and I think perhaps my mother was one of them." Gloria Vanderbilt
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"Trying is the first step towards failure." Homer Simpson

Want More? Further Reading...

"The Assault on Reason" by Al Gore
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"The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins
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"The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals" by Michael Pollan
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"Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal" by Eric Schlosser
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"A Moral Climate: The Ethics of Global Warming" by Michael S. Northcott
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"The Logic of Sufficiency" by Thomas Princen
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"The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth" by Tim Flannery
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"Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War" by Joe Baegent...Check out Joe's blog: www.joebaegent.com
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"Living with Darwin: Evolution, Design, and the Future of Faith" by Philip Kitcher
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"God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" by Christopher Hitchens
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"Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive" by Jared Diamond
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"Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture" by Ariel Levy
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"What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America" by Thomas Frank
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"The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman