Recognition

I'm torn between the desire for recognition and the desire to learn humility, and also the knowledge that in my trying not to want recognition I show false-humily and a bit of a martyr complex.
This week I've ended up being in charge of planning a lot of events of varying sizes for a student group I'm in. Some of it just went with my job description and wasn't a big deal. But the biggest event got basically dropped by the person who was supposed to be in charge of it, and I've spent the past 5 days with my life on hold trying to get everything ready for this event that takes place tomorrow night (well, tonight now since it's now Friday). And the others who dropped the event are still the people getting all the recognition for what a great thing this is and how much work they've put in and blah, blah, blah.
I really don't mind doing all this work that much. It's stuff I'm pretty good at -- the last-minute details and pulling everything together and making endless lists. But I do mind that others were supposed to be doing it, and I have yet to be asked for help or thanked for taking on this task. In fact, I've been criticized by them for the way I've chosen to do some things. So maybe it's not that I want recognition so much as I don't want others to be praised for a job they dumped on me at the last minute.
I should just be happy to help, right? It's for a good cause, and a job well done is its own reward. It doesn't matter whether others know that I made it happen in the end, and it shouldn't matter to me that others will think someone else did this great thing, but it does. So I'm fallen, and proud, and jealous, and whatever else. But I'm honest, too.
I've done everything I could to make this thing happen. And I don't want to hear it at the event when the others, who have very strong opinions about how everything should be run, criticize the set-up or the font size, or the mic placement or the fact that we have hot chocolate instead of coffee. I'm tired, I'm working catering in less than 7 hours, and I haven't read the book or write the response paper I was supposed to have done tomorrow (I mean today).
the end

how I spent my Thanksgiving break

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Finals

. . . and yet it's not even Thanksgiving yet.
Thanks to AAR* and SBL** annual meeting, most of my professors are gone, so I only have one class this week. Which means 5ish days of (almost) uninterrupted study time. Starting next week I have one or more big papers/projects due every week until break, and then 3 major papers to write while I'm home "relaxing." So yesterday I spent about an hour planning the about-to-ensue hibernation period. I have my books and articles stacked on my floor according to which paper they go with, a new set of highlighters and page tab thingies, a tub of hot chocolate and a pound of coffee, and I'm ready to hole up in the Oratory to write and research my little heart out. First stop: The role of the church in the 1848 revolution in Hungary, immediately followed by another paper on the church in the 1989 revolution. Send me academic vibes. And peace out yo.

*American Academy of Religion
**Society of Biblical Literature

Those Pesky Adjectives

This afternoon I went to a resume writing seminar for Seniors. This was helpful since I've rarely actually needed a resume for the jobs I've had thus far. We were instructed to make a list of 10 adjective that are authentic and descriptive and use them in our resumes and cover letters. I haven't done it yet, but it sounds like a good idea. The problem: I'm sort of adjectivally boring. I don't think I'm a boring person necessarily, but intro-verted and dependable and punctual, while excellent (or at least neutral) traits to have, don't exactly screem INTERVIEW ME! Now would be a convenient time to be out-going, energetic, innovative, creative. A little help here?

Hey there, stranger!

So apparently I can't handle 16 hours of class, 20+ hours of work, the impending doom of finals and group projects AND blogging regularly.
I've started (okay, I started 3 weeks ago) mapping out the craziness that will be finals. I don't have any exams, but I have 6 large papers and 2 group project/presentations. The good news is, I'm relatively interested in all of my topics. My two papers for Church and State in Modern Europe are on the role of the Church in the revolution of 1848 (overthrowing the Habsburgs) and 1989 (end of Soviet power). Those will be fun to research, and my Hungarian friends Emoeke and Gabor can tell me how to pronounce the names. Things will start being due in two weeks and continue until Jan 16, when I leave for Edinburgh.
I'm also gearing up to start writing my application to CEU, which I can do online, and my application to the PhD program here. The latter is really just practice, since there's noone here for me to study under. I'll learn the application process and how to handle rejection, and that's not pessimism or despair, it's just the statistical reality of applying to PhD programs.
All this means I'm a senior. Have been for a few months, but it hits me. I have to buy a preaching/graduation robe. What?! I do things like look at catalogs for cassocks and collars. Wierd.
This afternoon I'm driving about 1 hour to Red Bank, NJ to visit a church that one of my group projects is about. It should be a nice change of pace, since it sounds like a vibrant and young congregation. Pray I don't get lost in Jersey. No, seriously, pray! This state is ridiculous and I don't have a map of it.

A Very Seminary Halloween

We had a costume contest at the annual Halloween dinner. The kids were cute and normal. We had a student dressed as a monk and another as Rosemary Radford Reuther (radical feminist theologian).
The Lutherans posted the 95 Theses on the chapel.
In the 20 minutes I was awake before my 8am class I remember to put on an orange sweater.
Rachel and I gave our floor girls bags of candy.
Jen and Rachel and I had dinner at Chick-Fil-A, then Jen and I watched about 2/3 of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Spooky!
I wish I could have gone Trick or Treating around here because these are totally the kinds of houses you expect whole candy bars from.