Nott What You'd Expected...

Melville, Mail, and the C of E

Today was a day unlike any other.

that reminds me of Jack's Mannequin, which reminds me that my music is still lost and unattainable..... damned Maxtor3100 external hard drives.....

Otherwise, the past day(s) has been pretty lax. No classes yesterday lead to cleaning, reading, eating, listening to lectures, and more reading.

I'm reading Melville for American Lit, first Bartleby and now Benito Cereno, and the guy is a mystery. He has a bit of a show-off quality to him- no thesaurus remains un-leaved through, no word to big and no synonym too long... Reading Melville is like delving into an entirely different language than English, a language that leaves you feeling stupid and elementary.
Such is life. I'm starting to think that all of his work is a lot girthier than necessary. Consider this: Benito Cereno is a 60 page 'short story' that contains a plot capable of being examined and drawn out in as little as 5 pages. To put it simply, the guy is a word hog. Moby Dick could have been 50 pages if someone with a little brevity could have gotten their hands on the plotline first.... eh, such is lit.

Our lecturer last night was a former professor of religion/ canon of the Southwell Cathedral in Nottinghamshire. The guy was everything I hope to be as a teacher and more. He was critical, well read, sarcastic, witty, light on his feet, and able to contextualize and structure the information in a way that flowed- even if he was answering a question that he himself had not expected to be asked. I've never heard anyone throw so many relavent yet random quotes into a lecture in my life. Socrates this, Jefferson that, well known 15th century theologian this, Labour Party member that.....

His talk again stoked the eternal debate about religion in society, the meaning of life, the structure of a society based on a state religion, what it means for toleration in the UK, the future of the Church of England, and what the US's form of 'secular' really means.

To save you the dull and random rhetoric that has been clouding my brain for the last two weeks, i'll hit you with the most interesting point that i came up with from his talk: The Church of England is a state religion. Toleration is obviously touted, but essentially the church is the official religion, and as such has become a novelty, a tradition more than an actual religion. Recent times have hinted that the church and state could split, which brings me to my genius moment of the night: While the UK moves further from state-based religion, it seems as though the US is moving closer and closer to it (not actually institutionalized, but instead integrated thanks to the religious and political Evangelical Right).....

Secularism in the States has meant that certain religion must be left out of schools, etc. But it also means that religion has been immune to debate, immune from criticism from a doctrinal and reason-based standpoint. (See also: End of Faith)

Whew.

In other news, I finally got my spikes from home (thanks, mom), and if i wasn't busy every weekend from here until May, i would be more than ready to join the Athletics team here in running some real live races. Hilary now informs me that recent NCAA rules stipulate we might not be able to run.... whatever, maybe Pasche should read this and get back to me?

In related news, i'm off to my first Athletics practice in weeks- i could blame rain, being out of town, or sickeness, but really i've just been lazy about getting back to campus after a day full of classes (Wednesdays)....

Guests at dinner again tonight- the International Studies Reps from UNott.... ors derves and sherry served at 530... hopefully we'll be back by then.

Otherwise, tomorrow the guys ship off for London where i'll meet up with Heather (BFF from KTC this summer), and hit up Avenue Q and Wicked on consecutive nights.... should be a good time.

posted by Kevin @ 2:18 PM