Good day!

This is one of my favorite pieces from Art History this semester. It is called "The Magi Asleep" and it is found on the nave of St.-Lazare in Autun, France. It was done around 1132 AD and I like it because A) the kings are all wearing their crowns to bed and B) the third king whom the angel is touching, has one eye open and one eye closed (although this makes it look like both eyes are open). I also like the way the angel lightly touches him hand with one finger and points to the Star of Bethlehem with the other pointer finger.

Art History was this morning, 8 a.m. Rocked it. For the past three tests, we've had to memorize all the information and then fill-in-the-blank, give-it-back-verbatim for whatever slides she picked, as well as give cultural significance, compare and contrast cultures, etc. This time around? MULTIPLE CHOICE, BABY! I think I did well on the essay too. I wrote about how different cultures honor the dead and what that says about the society and the prominence the art gives to the dead people and to death itself. I gave lots of examples, not enough dates, decent amount of detail and had a strong ending. That being said, I wish I had gotten more sleep. It was hard getting up this morning for another hour of studying...

Today is good because
A) it is Friday, so I only have one more exam left
B) it is Friday, so tomorrow I will be home
C) it is Friday!

Today is also good because I found out today my merit and journalism scholarships were both definitely renewed, which is such a blessing. One more semester, folks.

Kappa is emptying our quickly. I'm pretty sure half the house left after Wednesday. Now the other half are leaving. A few underclassmen stopped by to say good-bye because they'll be studying abroad next semester. That was a little sad but in this age, it's so easy to stay in touch with people if you really want to that I am not too heartbroken.

My little stopped by with her sister and her sister's boyfriend on their way out of Hillsdale. I'm now going to organize myself for my two separate study sessions this afternoon for Founding. It's nice when people want to study with me, but I'm feeling like I need solitary confinement at this point making sure I've got the IDs and essay down. Oh well. It will still be good making connections and talking big ideas.

This is a really great short film called "New Boy" if you have 11-12 minutes. It is about an African boy named Joseph with "a haunting past story" who now attends school in Ireland; this short shows his first day at school.

Have a wonderful Friday! One week till Christmas!

Did you know, by the way, that Christmas is considered the feast day of Christ's birth, not the actual day of his birth? I had an agnostic friend give me gripes about that and I wasn't quite sure how to respond, so I looked it up! I love feast days.

"In Jesus we contemplate beauty and splendor at their source...no mere aestheticism, but the concrete way in which the truth of God's love in Christ encounters us, attracts us and delights us, enabling us to emerge from ourselves and drawing us towards our true vocation, which is love." --Pope Benedict XVI, "Sacramentum Caritatis"