classy

For those of you who aren't familiar with my school, we offer some pretty awesome classes. Here's my schedule for this semester:

Comparing Christian and Islamic Ethics: This course is team-taught by a prof I really enjoyed last semester and my former roommate's favorite professor. It is definitely in the top 5 classes I've ever taken. It's pretty tough--we've read 2 books and are halfway through a third, not to mention 2 long articles-- but the class itself is amazing. Apparently Ed Santurri (my prof) co-taught a class with my first-year religion prof Gary Stansell years ago, and the kid on the front row was Jamie Schillinger (the prof co-teaching with Santurri now)! Pretty crazy. We are going through the ethics of war and peace as they are explored in both Christian and Islamic traditions...I was a little disappointed with the choice of subtopic, since the class I had with Santurri last semester was "The Ethics of War," but since we're currently reading a book I read for the last class, it lightens the workload a bit. I also know nearly half the people in the class, which makes it fun.

King Arthur Through the Ages: Anyone who hung out with me as a kid knows I was OBSESSED with King Arthur and Robin Hood. In this class, we're working our way through the Arthurian legend chronologically, from the real-life Aurelius Ambrosianus to A Connecticut Yankee. My prof for this class is hilarious-- she's from Queens, and is hyper and scattebrained. Our first assignment was to find the best use of Arthurian legend in contemporary culture, and then present it to the class. Examples included Excalibur Cutlery, Excalibur Sires (of Excellence), King Arthur Storage, and my presentation, Heather Dale's Trial of Lancelot CD. I highly recommend you listen to some of the song clips-- they are so terrible it's amazing. May Queen is also awful. We find out today who the winner is...the prize is homemade baked goods!

The Arab World: I'm loading up on the courses is Islam to prepare for my (hopefully) service in Jordan. Arab World is a tough class...Not because of the workload, but because of the fact that it's right after lunch (2-3 MWF), in a warm, dimly lit classroom, and the prof's voice has been compared to (not by me!) a "vocal backrub." He sounds just like Sid the Sloth in Ice Age. So cute! We're going through the post-colonial period right now in the Arab World, so from the end of WWI to about the 70s. It's really interesting, but hard to stay awake! It's my only class in the new Science Center (Soc-Anthro, who would have thought that's a hard science?), so that's pretty fun. They won't have the coffee shop in there until after I graduate, though :(.

America in the 1970s: My 300-level history seminar. It's on Tuesday/Thursday, which means it's 85 and 80 minutes long, respectively. Too long. That's why I only have one class T/Th! I'm not really an American history person....It's too recent and un-exotic. The prof is a tiny lady who reminds me of my cousin Elizabeth. They have the same voice and sense of humour. We just finished our first book (even though there are only 3 books for the course! You know what that means....GIANT research project!), and she brought in clips from the first season of Saturday Night Live. Any prof who owns the complete series of SNL (to date) wins in my book.

Harp: Yes. Harp. Fridays after Arab World. For an hour. Worst schedule ever. I'm managing the Harp Ensemble again this year, and setting up for our concerts on Palm Sunday weekend. As usual, my friend Erin and I will steal the show :). We have two duets-- Bach's Invention No. 8 and Prokofiev's Prelude in C. I'm also playing a duet with my teacher, using my jury piece from last semester, CPE Bach's Solfegietto. It's more of a technique piece than anything--no buzzing, no pedal sounds-- but she found a harmony part to it that we're going to rock. I'm working on Debussy's First Arabesque right now. Some of my music was stolen before Christmas, so I need to replace it asap before I forget all the songs! I play in the fancy dining room on campus, the Kings' Room, for two hours every Sunday, and I need all my music!

That's my life. Have to rush to Ethics now!