Guess what I learned to do today?

New St. Andrew's College

Right, here's the deal. I have wanted to attend NSA for years. Yes, really. Miss No-I-won't-go-to-college-and-you-can't-make-me has kept this hidden and is now sheepishly bringing it out into the open. The desire is too great. My parents are still urging independence. And I'm not in danger of getting married any time soon (not from what I can see, anyway). What to do?

I post this is because I know you all will tell me exactly what you think. I've said over and over again, repetitively and redundantly, that I don't want to leave my family if it's possible for me to stay. They, however, are getting closer and closer to pushing me out of the nest. Can I, in good conscience, move to Idaho to go to college when they finally do the deed? Would I even have the money to go to school? Could I withstand the rigours of NSA?

My parents want me to go to college- they always have. I have consistently said no. Can I finally do what they want only because I want to do it too? That seems a silly question.

Advise me, O Counsellours. I need help to think this through.

Spring Break

I have made a huge mistake.

I've been reading Fast Food Nation in my free time this week, and it is disgusting. After learning a few things about the modern-day cattle business, I now feel completely justified in not liking ground beef and in refusing to eat at fast food restaurants. However, I'm also having trouble wanting to eat any meat now...this makes things difficult. Do I eat the nasty meat, origins unknown? Or do I go hungry? Obviously, I cannot go hungry. The alternative to the scary meat is expensive, though. So I've decided: whoever's gonna marry me had better do it quick, so we can get that farm going.

In the meantime, here's a neat website that I've been looking at: www.eatwild.com. They have state-by state lists of grass-fed, anti-antibiotic, hormone-free meat suppliers.

Also, Fast Food Nation has a story in it about a Frenchman named José Bové who ran his tractor into a McDonald's. He also came up with this great slogan : "Non à McMerde!" which (if one wishes to be less offensive) roughly translates to "No to McPoo!". There's another story about a couple of friends who were sued for libel by McDonald's and managed to drag out the trial eleven years and drag McDonald's through the mud while they were at it. You can read about that by googling Helen Steel, Dave Morris, and McLibel. It's a great story.

St. Paul is not a psycho.

I like posting things written by others, especially when I'm busy. It's just so easy. I'm only a little sorry. I'll try to think of something "original" to post soon.

"Where is faith? In a faithful person, you might say. But where is faith, in that person? My gut tells me that for most, explicitly or implicitly, faith, as a fruit of the Spirit's work in man, is thought to be found in a person's brain. This is not surprising since it is relatively easy to manipulate the thoughts of your brain, but it is a mysterious mission (at best) to attempt to control the thoughts of your hands and legs. We, however reformed we claim to be, still want to have some power over God. It seems what is meant by a lot of folks saying, 'sola fide' is really 'faith alone in my brain.' And then it's no wonder that hearty affirmations of efficacious sacraments make them choke. And yet the work of the Spirit is in the whole man: renewing the mind throughout our bodies. If faith is only needed in our brains, St. Paul is psycho, for all his insistence on the subduing of our bodily members to Christ. Lastly, if we as the Church make up Christ's body, and our bodies will one day be made like his body, then this has to inform not only our ecclesiology and eschatology but our ontology and epistemology. There is more going on than our brains can tell us. Not only do we need faithful brains, but we need faithful eyes, faithful knee caps, and faithful finger nails. And that, my friend, is why it's important to dance."

Borrowed from someone named Toby Sumpter- unfortunately, I don't remember who that is.

Another Winner from Sora Colvin

I've been catching up a bit on my blog-reading this morning, and I ran across a good post by Mrs. Colvin. On 17 February, she compared classical education and homeschooling. I have to say, I completely agree with her. She wrote several things that I've been thinking of lately, such as:

"...what is efficient for the teachers and administrators is terribly inefficient -- for the student."

and,

"Simply "managing" -- or, less charitably, "babysitting" -- a group of 20 seven year olds, keeping them attentive and on task as a group, takes a great part of the school day. "

I only have nine and it is extremely difficult to keep their attention. They all work at different paces, and they all want my attention in the same way. They also feed off of each other- one stops working and misbehaves, and the rest join right in. Of course they do! They're seven! Tell me again why we're running the school this way?

I can't wait to school my own children.

Sorry.

Scolded, I repent in dust and ashes.

For the curious, I am still teaching at what Lisa lovingly has termed "The School from Hell". I will not be returning next year. I have, however, tentatively agreed to homeschool three siblings next year. The two oldest are currently in my class. It will pay more, and by that I mean that I'll actually get to EAT the peanuts they poke through the fence.

In other news, we're having fun dancing every Friday night. A big group of us collegiate-types are learning (or relearning, in my case) the waltz and other fun ballrooms dances. For free!

Also, I got this great new book for Christmas (better late than never, eh?)! It's called Deep Comedy, and I am enjoying it quite a bit. Unfortunately, I haven't much time to read.

And for the deep-dark-corners-curious, I am being followed around by not one but two menfolk. One: maybe; the other: not so much. That's all I have to say about that.