Happy St. Crispin's Day!

Today is the feast day of St. Crispin and St. Crispinian, twin brothers martyred in 286 A.D. It is also the day the Battle of Agincourt occurred in 1415, dramatized by Shakespeare in his play Henry V. The speech King Henry gives in Act 4, scene 3 happens to be one of my favorites, so I'll give it to you here:

"What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

This was parents' weekend at Hillsdale College and even though my dear parents didn't come, it was a lovely weekend. It was UC's homecoming as well this weekend, and Mom called me on Saturday so that I could hear the sounds of the parade. I saw lots of friends' parents, including my "little brother" on campus Sammy's parents. Sam's also from Cincinnati and his twin sisters are good friends with my sister Marianne, so our families are well-connected. That was just wonderful.

I invited my friend Matt over to Kappa for brunch because I was a "parent-less" senior, so that was neat being able to share a meal with a fellow "parent-less" friend on campus as well as showing him around the house, since boys are not technically allowed upstairs, but this was one time they were allowed. When I first asked him, he thought I had said "pant-less" and not "parent-less," which I can assure you led to much hilarity.

Today at mass, I sat behind one of the girls I used to coach in soccer and when it was time for the Sign of Peace, she called me "Coach Julie." It made me really happy, especially since this is the first season in a little over two years I have not coached that group of girls. One of those, I'm-still-their-coach moments.

I'm really getting into my research paper on James Otis. He's fantastic and I'll have to expound more on him later; he is so fascinating when studying the origins of early American political thought. I'll also be working on my thesis today and helping spread the word about Kappa's 5k next Saturday/ getting people to sign up. I'll be writing cover letters for fellowships, studying with my friend Sarah, there's a candlelight at 6, articles are starting to pour in and yeah...it's going to be a great Sunday!

Song of the day is "Westfalls" by Okkervil River. I'm sure there are better recordings, but the song is still phenom.