The beat goes on...

Sorry for skipping a day already! Maybe I'm not as dedicated as I felt on Wednesday when the blog was all exciting and new again... I am going to try though!

Thursday was busy, busy, busy. As I wrote before, the presentation in C&I went great, then I had a great nap followed by a great dinner with great friends; then things stopped being great. Right after dinner I had to run up to HAL for a Symbolic Logic review session, which I had to leave halfway through to go to a great lecture on Dante. Dr. Esolen (who is a renowned scholar on Dante) came to speak and was very entertaining. I had no idea of some of the symbloism in the Divine Comedy.

For instance, Satan, who is encased in ice from the waist down (and subsequently chewing on Brutus, Casius, and Judas with his three mouths) is constantly flapping his wings. In other words, he is denying the power of God by figuratively saying, "I will rise of my own power." However, this action, ironically, causes the gale that causes the ice to form that hold himself and the other traitors in the lowest level of hell. Dr. Esolen also quoted George Macdonald, "I am my own are the lonliest words ever uttered," which now that I have thought about it is so true. In today's society, especially American society, all we do is concentrate on the individual. How can we not when it is what is pushed into our minds by advertisers and others, "You deserve this, you are the one that is working hard, you, you you." It is important to look back on history and realize that we are not individuals so much as a part of a whole. In our post-cultural society, there is no common factor that binds us together any longer. It is a voluntary submission to God and acknowledgement that we are not in fact our own that can do this - freedom must unite us because we do not recieve our freedom from ourselves. It is this contingency and dependence on one another that can make us free in love, humility, and gratitude.

Enough 'preaching', that is just something that I thought was so amazing and wonderful of a revelation to me that I had to share.

Last night was One Acts, and it was very funny. I particularly liked one called, "English Made Simple," the little grammar freak in me enjoyed it lots and lots. Then followed dessert down at the apartments (mmm ice cream) and watching some of the extras to LOTR. I was very happy. Now mac & cheese calls as does some Dancing with the Stars!