Aristotle on Friendship

But the complete sort of friendship that is between people who are good and are alike in virtue, since they wish for good things for one another in the same way insofar as they are good, and they are good in themselves. And those who wish for good things for their friends for their own sake are friends most of all, since they are that way for themselves and not incidentally; so the friendship of these people lasts as long as they are good, and virtue is enduring. (from Nicomachean Ethics, 1156B)

My four year college roomie and me, senior year, study break; next month, I'm having a baby and she's moving to Scotland for grad school - she is the best kind of friend a person can ever have.

In Memory of a Sister: Sally Giauque

Fall 2007

Last week, a woman died at 85 years old. Her name was Sally, and I met her when I was a sophomore in college and "went Kappa" - that is, joined Kappa Kappa Gamma, a woman's fraternity. Sally was one of the chapter advisers at Hillsdale College. An alumna of the college and chapter, she dedicated herself to our house and its members. She would arrive every Monday, in time for dinner and meeting, and stay in the guest room. She was stylish, smart, and was always reminding us of standards and how to be ladies.

I had a tough time being a Kappa the first few semesters; perhaps it is my penchant for not being told by other people who I am, and people like to label "sorority girls." Or maybe I never thought that I quite fit in, though I met a few of my best friends in that house. Or maybe I was just overwhelmed; I never seemed to have enough time to join in the more fun activities, as I prioritized school and the newspaper, accepting only required duties as my service and standard. Kappa wasn't what I expected of her, but maybe, as I thought later, I wasn't what Kappa expected either.

While I struggled with my collegiate career at Kappa, I always looked to Sally. She was a lady. She told us chewing gum made us look like cows. If we were late to meeting, she kindly informed us that it was better form to use the back door. How we dressed was important - and not for fashionable or keeping up appearances reasons (which I rebelled against): but because we were Kappas, and that was something to be proud of, and our dress reflected the care we took in our appearance, in our house, and in ourselves. This I could embrace, understand, and welcome.

Kappa Sal, as we called her

She married her college sweetheart (who died in 1981), and she would talk so fondly about him. You just knew their love was special. She just wanted the make the world beautiful, and that is the most important thing I learned from her: to do your little perfectly. Pick your battles, make peace, do good.

I always bit off more than I could chew, and that is why I struggled. When I started to let go of what I wanted, and started giving back more to the house, Kappa's beauty burst forth in front of me. Kappa is made up of many, many women, but none of them define her - she defines them. She guides them. She teaches them - through education, ritual, service and love.

Sally embodied all these things, and she gave me one more sisterly lesson: how to be a lady, and how to be a woman. This is something we females are not taught enough, I think, or have many proper examples of in our formative years. She was old-fashioned, and in the best ways possible.

There is no clear-cut recipe for how to be a lady and a woman, but it starts with humility, graciousness, asking for help, willing to help, saying the (sometimes) unwanted sentiment, and reminding others how proud you are of them and what good they bring to this world. When Sally stood up and talked, everyone listened. It was because of Sally's example that I wanted to give more back to Kappa, and I began writing book reviews for The Key, Kappa's magazine, after graduation. Writing is something I do, something I love, and something I can give back to Kappa. It is my little, and I strive to do it perfectly.

Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter house at Hillsdale College, circa 2010

Dream a while of Kappa ever true 
Dream of her and she will be with you 
Dream of friendships through the years 
Dream of days their joys and tears 
Now it's time that you and I must part 
So take this dream and place it in your heart 
Keep it dear until the time we will meet again. 

Readers, who has touched your life profoundly, and in ways you did not expect? I did not realize how much of an example Sally had set for me until she passed away on July 23, 2013, and I really began to think of her again. My consolation is that I know I made her proud, and I intend to give more back to Kappa in her memory - and make the world a more beautiful place than I found it, too.

Published in The Mirror Magazine

Set Me As A Seal On Your Heart

Matt Maher sets Song of Solomon to music:


Today, I am grateful for my husband who woke at 6 a.m. to go to work. I am grateful for the little hole we share; the way he loves me, cares for me, helps me feel better, encourages me, and is my complete other half. He makes my heart expand in so many ways, just when I think I could not love him any more than I do.

I am grateful for my grandparents, my parents, and my in-laws for the love they taught me and give me.

I am grateful for my siblings and sibling-in-laws, and for all the love and laughs we share.

I am grateful for my extended family, friends, and communities which I belong to, which never cease to show me love and support.

Mostly, though, I am grateful for the Lord, who loved me first.

I am blessed enough that I can't picture everyone whom I love so very dearly, but they know who they are. Happy Valentine's Day, to one and all!

Book Review: The Newlywed Cookbook

Sarah Copeland has given readers, beginner cooks and sous chefs alike, another delicious treat. Her first book, The Newlywed Cookbook: Fresh Ideas & Modern Recipes for Cooking with and for Each Other, is a wide blend of homemade and heirloom dishes. She is motivated by the advice of her grandmother, Virginia Edwards Copeland, to "learn to make his favorite things."

From an aesthetic view, the book is divine. Gorgeous photography by Sara Remington is paired with a charming lay-out. Her sister, Jenny Goddard, designed the "Sips" tag on the iced tea in the "Embellishments: Snacks, Sauces & Sips to Enlighten the Table" section. Sarah's knowledge on seasonable fruits and vegetables, organics, picking out meat, how to stock one's kitchen, what kind of tools to have on hand, and all questions in-between are abundantly given.

Sarah introduces herself as much as her book in her writing. She tells us,

"There's a moment in a marriage, whether two days or two hundred and twenty-two into it, where you're standing side by side in the morning barefoot on the cool kitchen floor. Everything is quiet but the hum of him making you coffee just the way you like it, with all that frothy milk and sugar. You're stirring his favorite pancakes, sprinkling a few blueberries in the batter, and then it hits you: these simple moments are somehow the best in life. This could happen over a fork fight for the last peach in the jar, or playing rock-paper-scissors for whose turn it is to do dishes. It can happen, and will happen over and over again if you let it. That is the essence of this book."

Sarah is a self-described "writer, urban gardener, passionate cook and curator of good living. She is a six year veteran of the Food Network and co-founder (and former spokesperson) for their charitable initiative, Good Food Gardens. She thrives on "homegrown veggies, stinky cheeses, chocolate cake" and her little family, made up of her husband Andras and their baby, Greta."

As a bride-to-be myself, and one who does not cook often (or ever), I found myself time and time again with this cookbook, pouring over it with fascination and hope. Sarah inspired me to cook for my fiance B. and his parents, and I don't take that impulse lightly. Before fixing Shrimp Saganaki for them, I had cooked for B. exactly once.

On a page labeled "Strategies," Sarah confesses that, though there may be dozens of rules to good cooking, she's probably broken most of them. She gives "ten strategies to make your kitchen the spirited and well-seasoned center of your nest." I took numbers 1, 4, 6 and 8 ("Get Smart, Get Fresh," "Learn the Art of Reading Recipes," "Be Flexible," "Don't Panic") especially to heart.

Sarah gives just enough instruction (though I would have preferred more in a few cases, as a novice), as well as insight into fresher ingredients, preparation advice and alternations for individual recipes. For meals, she makes specific suggestions of what to serve the dish with, be it the wine, bread, or greens.

I fixed the Shrimp Saganaki, which turned out so well that I decided to try another recipe. In this instance, Sarah and I are a culinary match: we both eat carrot cake every year on our birthday. This birthday, I made my own cake, as well as the cream cheese frosting. It was delicious, and only got better over the few days it lasted.

This book is wonderful, warm, and inviting. It reads like a good conversation and gives encouragement through Sarah's perpetual optimism and care toward both cooking and life. 

Originally published in The Key.

Book published by Chronicle Books, www.edibleliving.com

Happy Founders Day!

In 1870, six women came together and formed Kappa Kappa Gamma. 142 years later, we sisters continue to be blessed!

Happy Founders Day!

Urban Gardening

I might not live downtown or in an apartment any more, but I do live within the city [limits] with my family. We have significantly less room to garden. Fortunately for me, I was given The Newlywed Cookbook to review*, and Sarah Copeland is converting me to living better.



She blogs and tweets, too!

*Obsessed with this book, and I am not a culinary person {yet}. An excellent gift for couples and anyone interested in making everyday aspects of their life fun and delicious!

Dresses Rule, Pants Drool and Other Facts of Life

TBM Topic 15: The Feminine Genius - The Dress

"Dresses Rule, Pants Drool and Other Facts of Life" by Julie Robison
"Dresses & the Apostolate of Beauty" by Trista at Not a Minx, Moron, or a Parasite
"Month of the Dress" by Elizabeth at Startling the Day

We three are from the oft-mentioned, widely-speculated upon demographic of young, twenty-something Catholic women. We're here to dispel the myths and misconceptions- please join us for the discussion!

I'll never forget standing in line for dinner at college. First of all, I'm in line for food I pre-paid for but did not want at present, minus the cereal bar (which I could have eaten in my dorm room).

Secondly, I was standing behind a girl and her boyfriend. The girl had been on the hall I was an RA for; the boyfriend was Trad-Catholic. She said hi and introduced us. I was wearing jeans. He told me girls shouldn't wear pants. I asked him where Jesus forbade women from wearing pants; was it before or after he gave us the Golden Rule to love our neighbor as ourselves?

Our relationship, as you can guess, did not blossom.

Females hate being told what to do. That is our job, to boss the rest of the world around!

Another reason that particular male upset me is because I actually prefer dresses and skirts, but I also like that I have the opportunity to wear pants (especially in college, while trudging through feet of snow), just as I like that I have the opportunity to vote, hold a job and make my own life decisions.

Females have not only the ability to wear pants, but to look nice in pants, especially if the pair fits well; if the pair also happens comes in a fabulous color, more power to pants!

Would I look cuter wearing pants in this picture? Dubious.

These opportunities, sadly, are few and far between. As Fall approacheth, women ask the big question: where have all the good pants gone? With a decline in tailored clothes, pants now fit awkwardly in order to appease the masses. My sisters and I lament: The butt is too big. The legs are too skinny. These hips don't lie.

Hence, I love wearing dresses and skirts. There is true genius in this for-female-use-only attire, and here are my top TEN reasons why I think so:

10. Wearing a dress makes girls feel put together and confidant! No matter a girl's size, few people look dumpy in a dress. Dresses have the ability to make you feel pretty.

So many beautiful girls in beautiful dresses!

9. God made us women to be the most beautiful creatures on earth, inside and out. If we want to show our inner beauty, why not show off our outer beauty too by wearing dresses? Heels are optional; I prefer kitten heels or ballet flats myself.

8. To look (and want to look!) pretty is not vain, unless you only care about your outer appearance. Remember in Jane Eyre? When Jane's friend had her beautiful curls cut off to keep her from becoming vain? Unnecessary, according to Roman Catholic theology. Beauty is a reflection of God's goodness in the world.

7. Dresses and skirts help draw attention to the waist, not the hips, unlike pants. More proof that pants are not your friend.

6. Dresses flatter the body much better than pants ever could. Also, you are fully clothed if you are wearing a dress. If you only wore pants, that would be indecent!

5. Dresses are versatile! They can be dressed up and down, based on accessories, fabric and style. You could wear the same dress for a week and look different every day. If boys can wear the same pants every day, why can't girls wear the same dress? They can also be worn year-round and in any weather, unlike pants and shorts.

Isn't Bear gorgeous? And her dress? Divine!

4. The colors, Duke, the colors! Not to mention, the patterns, the fabrics, the styles and the occasions that all help make a dress great. Pants can have all of the above too, but the effect would not be the same. Dressing up is like becoming a work of art, and more fully shows your womanly beauty in a wholesome way.

3. Dresses require more effort to be modest. If one is wearing a dress, a lady must cross her legs or ankles. If one's dress has no sleeves or dips a bit, then a lady must wear extra clothing to cover her shoulders and/ or chest area. A lady loves sundresses, but not short dresses.

2. Dresses are not just for girly-girls. Dresses are for all girls! Dresses are a distinct style that no person can imitate. No girl wears the same dress the exact same way. As Lilly Dache said, "Glamour is what makes a man ask for your telephone number. But it also is what makes a woman ask for the name of your dressmaker."

1. Dresses are classy. Catholics are classy. Ergo, Catholic girls wear dresses!

Grace Kelly: Catholic, classy and fellow dress wearer

There are, of course, perks to wearing pants too. This is the only one I am willing to concede:



Happy Tuesday!

The Adventures of the Irish-German Family Robisons

Just a heads up, my family is going on vacation, which means I'm taking a blogging vacation too.

If you need me, we'll be in the South because Lord knows, when it's hot, it can always get hotter. Also, my sister found a cabin on a lake where our dog is allowed to frolic too.

How could we leave her behind?!

Emily of Day in the Life tagged me in a blog meme where you pick seven of your favorite blog posts. I'm sure I'll miss a few, but here goes:

1. Most Beautiful Post(s)

"What is Real? asked the Rabbit" -- later became my first post for TIC

"Master, to whom shall we go?" -- Thomas Aquinas' poetry and reflecting on the Eucharist

2. Most Popular Post(s)

"Hail, Mary!" and "Hillsdating and Other False Realities" both cleared over 1,000 views each.

3. Most Controversial Post

"Going to the Mattresses: One Girl's Take on Faith and Feelings" -- Bright Maidens post no. 5, my issue(s) with the Catholic Church (for more insight into my thoughts on this subject, here is an earlier post/ excerpt from a FOC letter: "Flannery on Faith and Feelings")

4. Most Helpful Post(s)

"I will be the one/ Drenched in Proverbs 31" -- someone else's helpfulness

"A Last Lecture, How Romantic" -- a former professor and an excerpt from his wonderful article (which I heard as a last lecture), "The Romance of Domesticity"

"What's Love Got To Do, Got To Do With It?" -- most helpful post to me and my future discernment, especially in understanding the idea of wives submitting to their husbands and what that means

"Tamed, Thanks to Hillsdale College" -- Dr. Jackson's spring 2010 convocation speech is amazing, especially his voice, his beard and his discussion of Le Petite Prince

"I been leavened by the yeast he don't believe in," he said, "and I won't be burned." -- from my college days; an excerpt from a FOC short story and one scholar's take on it (and life)

5. Post(s) Whose Success Surprised You

"Saint Who?" -- Bright Maidens post no. 4 on patron saints; nicest shout-out ever on CatholicVote

Also, "And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church" -- a short quote by Pope Benedict XVI on making the Church "more attractive" and "credible"

6. A Post You Feel Didn’t Get the Attention it Deserved

"Thursdays with My Mom's Side" -- death of a dear one, James Joyce, W.H. Auden, and coming home.

7. Post you’re Most Proud of

"Oh College Days, What Art Thou?" -- a response to a friend who graduated summa cum laude

Here are some more honorable mentions:

"Confessions of the Un-Domestic" -- is a person born domestic? or is domesticity thrust upon them?

"Happy Birthday, William Faulkner!" -- read him.

"Homeless in Columbus" -- a fateful meeting with a homeless man and his poetry

"Shun the Hipsters" -- from a Paris Review interview with John Updike

"A Caucus-Race! In Alexandria, not Wonderland" -- a game I played walking to the metro

Fun trivia from Weez and the USCCB: this week is NFP Awareness Week! Who knew?

The Bright Maidens reached 200 FOLLOWERS over the weekend; have you "liked" us on FB yet? Our next topic will be summer reading and will be due the first Tuesday in August.

See y'all in August!

Happy Trails!

Tomorrow I am driving south to hang out with B. before going to bed early, waking up early, driving to the airport, flying to Detroit, flying to Tokyo, and landing in Busan, South Korea.

Oh yes, did I mention I am leaving the country for two weeks?

I will mostly be off the grid, visiting this girl:

Excited!!!!

Which means I will not be blogging and will not be in contact with most people. I'll be home in time for my little sister's first Shakespeare performance and my grandmother's birthday party in early-to-mid June.

Here are my Top 10 Things I have learned pre-Asian Adventure

10. There is no possible logic I can use to convince some people that South Korea is an awesome place to visit.

9. Then again, plenty of people think it's going to be a wonderful experience! Mostly Starcraft fans have voiced their approval, because South Korea is apparently the Starcraft Mecca. I've promised to take tons of pictures if I see any of this happening:



8. This adventure has been actively discussed since last summer, when the aforementioned lady started applying to teach ESL in South Korea. A little voice said, Why don't you go over there and visit her? I'm prone to over-thinking decisions, so the actual acts of buying this ticket and making the trip happen have already been such an adrenalin rush! Also, we semi-impulsively decided to go to Japan for a weekend to see our friend Scott, who has been cycling for charity for the past month. I find I like being impulsive! Sometimes.

7. This is my first trip overseas and I'm more worried about the exchange rate than traveling.

6. Contrary to popular belief, going to South Korea does not mean I will be anywhere near North Korea. For those concerned:

5. Applying for a passport when the President threatened to shut down the government was not ideal, but it did make the process more exciting.

4. Now that I have a passport, I find myself scanning cheap ticket sites. For example: my sister is going to Germany in September, and I could potentially go with her in the beginning of the trip...!

3. Every toiletry need can be bought smaller and in 3 oz. bottles or less! Unfortunately, less [product] does not equal more [savings]. I am only bringing a backpack with minimal clothes and items. If it doesn't fit, c'es la vie! Too bad, so sad.

2. You have to plan ahead for everything! Working ahead for job stuff, traveling needs, things you want to bring along to work on/ read, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. My "To-Do-Now-or-You-Will-Be-Overseas-and-Banging-Your-Head-Against-Bamboo" list is EXPLODING.

1. I'm so happy. I've wanted to travel overseas since high school, wasn't able to during college, and am now working and self-sufficient enough to do so. The bonus blessing is being able to take the time to do so, and having a number of friends from college over there to see and spend time with, as well as seeing the sights and experiencing another culture.

I'm finally reading (and finishing!!!) Jacques Barzun's From Dawn to Decadence on this venture. As a bonus goodbye gift, my post on "The Logic of Personhood" is featured on National Catholic Register and The Pulp.It today!

“Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
-- J.R.R. Tolkien

Tourist Julie!

Happy Trails, friends! See y'all in two-ish weeks!

Have You Filed Your Taxes?

I almost didn't write one this week but, nonetheless, here is my volume 20:

one

Today is not, I repeat, not Tax Day. Tax Day was moved to Monday, because there is a holiday of some sort happening in Washington, D.C. Or, if you work at a tax law firm like I do, then every day is Tax Day!

two

Something I read for class, by Catholic Moral Theologian David Bohr:

The Christian life is like this. Faith is not usually a sudden inspiration that comes out of nowhere. Faith is a habit built up over time by doing faithful actions. Faith, as it was for the ancient Israelites, is not just a feeling or interior assurance, but is constituted in the real, material world by concrete practices. Faith is skillfully and wisely dealing with strangers, loved ones, money, genitals, and pots and pans. Faith is not usually something that comes in a flash of blinding light, but is built up over time by small actions like saying a prayer for a friend, cutting vegetables at a soup kitchen, putting one's rear end in a pew every Sunday morning. If faith takes hold, these sort of actions and a thousand others become second nature.

three

Spring is here, finally! Still cold-ish sometimes, but at least I can walk outside with my shoes off again, feet squishing against the grass and cool mud.

More things I like about spring: driving with my windows down again, bare legs, shorts, spring skirts, playing and running outside with the family dog, weekend croquet matches, no more cold weather, birds singing, warm breezes, anything nautical, sunshine.

What are things you like about spring?

four

One of my best friends from college/ Kappa is at culinary school in New York and I miss her a lot. Fortunately, she keeps a blog. Even for a non-foodie like me, I enjoy it. She's also been tying in Scripture verses to the beginning of her posts lately too, which gives new perspective. Check it out!

Vivy and me running down a hill in Georgia

five

My best friend (Bear-Bear, to those unawares) has an incredibly talented younger sister, whom I call Old Sport. Listen to her beautiful song here:

six

Doesn't this song just make you happy? This website on St. Augustine makes me happy too-- many thanks to Emina at Illumination for posting it! The libertarian allegory from the Mises Institute of Rebecca Black's song "Friday" is worth a chuckle too; and, as always, are you reading WSJ's James Taranto?

seven

We Bright Maidens had another lovely response to our post this week: saving sex for marriage. I must admit, I was rawther nervous about posting mine, but the responses, either public or private, were overall so gracious, that it made me feel very happy to share my stories and view point. Many thanks to Tito Edwards for featuring mine on National Catholic Register and The Pulp.It as well! AMDG!

In case you missed it:
"The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same" by Julie Robison
"Cut to the Chaste." by Elizabeth at Startling the Day
"Three Strikes, I'm Out!" by Trista at Not a Minx

This next week's topic is finally to be revealed.... REVERSION STORIES! How three cradle Catholics "re-discovered" the Church, and why we've stayed Catholic. Being friends with Trista and Elizabeth, I can assure the audience that y'all will be in for a treat.

After Lent, we'll take a one week break, and then resume posts every two weeks. We'd like to invite anyone interested to write alongside us, and post it on our Facebook page! Or e-mail us the link, and we'll happily post it for you.

Happy Friday, folks! See Conversion Diary for more.

Priscilla, You Lazy Upstairs Maid! Get Down Here!

Chapter 13 and it's snowing outside. This clearly must mean something!

one

Robison family story time: This morning, my Father yelled up the stairs, "Priscilla, you lazy upstairs maid! Get down here and dress Lady Anne for her luncheon with Lord Bracknell!"

Yes, he was talking to me. No really, that's what he said. I'm not what we call a "morning person." This was after my sister brought Heidi upstairs to sit on me in order to wake me up. Instead, Heidi snuggled with me like the good dog she is, so getting up and out of bed was even harder!

I live on the third floor of our very old house, and we always joke about how I (and my brother, before he moved to campus) live in the servants quarters. Then I went downstairs and ate eggs for breakfast, followed by a leftover turtle brownie. I love being a big kid!

Chwismas Family Robison

My uncle gave me a book of modern poets and a disk recording of them reciting their poetry, so my Poem of the Week fire just had gasoline squirted on it. Here's a 20th century poem (and poet!) that wasn't in the book, but should have been:

"I Sit and Think" by J.R.R. Tolkien

I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall never see.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.

ADVENTure is out there!

Let me begin by saying my car is old. Let me follow this fact by saying how much I love my car. My father bought it many years ago with the intention of letting me drive it when I got my license at age 16 and, thus, buying himself a chauffeur to carpool his five younger children around.

I drove it for two years in high school and then left it at home for college, taking it back with me only two of my eight semesters. Once when my sister was driving it, a little gravel flew up and hit the windshield while she and my brother were leaving the boat house after practice. The front window now has a nice scar across the lower part of the window. I think it gives it character. When I graduated college, my parents gave it to me as a graduation gift since I was not living at home at the time and would need transportation for my reporting job.

Today is Day 2 of my car being completely frozen shut. Not only am I not amused, but I am sad. I miss my car. I have to drive to work with my Dad, which I don't mind, but on Thursday he is going to Illinois for business and then I will need my car to open sesame or else ...I may not be able to get myself to work! I don't mind snow or cold but ice is a whole nother monster. I had to salt the back steps last night after work because I didn't want my mother coming home from work at the hospital only to return as a patient. (Or anyone, for that matter!)

Today is the feast day of St. John of the Cross, a mystic and Doctor of the Church, who came from poverty and suffering, learning to love God through hardship, and thus finding beauty and knowledge. His most famous book is Dark Night of the Soul, is a Christian classic for good reason. It is the treatise he wrote based on a poem he also wrote, of the same title, about faith in God when one is feeling loneliness, despair and spiritual dryness. St. John of the Cross argues that it is the very hardships one experiences that brings one closer to God and helps one grow in spiritual maturity. In it, he wrote, "Spiritual persons suffer great trials from the fear of being lost on the road and that God has abandoned them… Their soul was taking pleasure in being in that quietness and ease, instead of working with its faculties."

Well, I can relate. I am not going through a "dark night of the soul" by any means, but it is the third week of Advent and I am feeling a lull. Perhaps it is because I am always cold. Perhaps it is because I now have a cold. Or perhaps this is what it feels like no longer living like I am trying to do all my work in a 24 hour period.

Either way, I am learning more and more in these post-college days not to rely on only myself and my abilities. I come from a family who values independence and I've lately been worried I find more certitude in me than God. St. Augustine said to "pray as if everything depends on God, and work as if everything depends on you." I've struggled to trust God these past few weeks. I'm leaning more towards him now, but perhaps too eagerly, trying to discern his will. I am still puzzled at the clues. And that's okay. I don't really want to know, it's more a curiosity. I like praying for all possibility to delight me. Like learning a foreign language, patience and persistence is key with prayer.

Ave, Maria!

Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception! This feast day is a holy day of obligation for the Catholic Church. It is the solemnity celebrating the conception of Mary (not Jesus in Mary) because she, by the grace of God, was born without original sin so that she would be worthy of hold Jesus in her womb.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us!

Just so we're on the same page: Roman Catholics do not worship Mary. We venerate her and seek her as an intercessor. Per Jesum ad Mariam-- to Jesus through Mary. She is worthy of our praise (not worship, she is not divine) because she is the Mother of God the Son. This is not to say that we cannot go to Jesus directly ourselves, but it is just another way of getting to know him. When you are getting to know a guy (or really, any person), don't you want to meet his family?

This is a really great video explaining the importance of Mary through Scripture:



Today is also the 30th anniversary of John Lennon getting shot and killed. I am not a huge fan of him or Yoko Ono, but The American Conservative ran an article on him today called "Stop Imagining" which is quite good.

First batch of Christmas cards were sent Monday, but the next batch will have to wait: 1031 position paper due asap, article due next Monday, the galley proofs for The Key's winter issue just arrived in my inbox and I am helping my cousin pack up her apartment this weekend. I'm also seeing Narnia with a group Saturday and taking a good friend out for a belated birthday dinner. Is it seriously the middle of the week? (The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things...!)

Oh, and James Taranto e-mailed me back. If you do not know who he is, he runs a section of the WSJ and is fantastic (he writes the best headlines too!). I enjoyed yesterday's "Birther of the Nation" so much that I sent him an e-mail telling him so, because I am a big believer in giving feedback. He e-mailed me back today. BLISS.

A final thought: My friend Joy asked in a FB status what Beowulf would say in a toast. I wrote: Beowulf's wedding toast, as translated by Julie Robison: "May your fate be better than Grendel's, and your bride a better temperment than Grendel's mother's; may your mead always be abundant and your mead hall always merry; and may you have no fear when time demands it, and courage when others need it. Here, here!"

Then that got me thinking-- if you were to give a toast (wedding or otherwise) in the voice of a literary character, whom would you imitate and what would you say? (And if you give me a good one, I'll post it in tomorrow's poem of the week post!)

Happy Wednesday! Stay warm folks!

What Google Ad Preferences Taught Me About Myself

I am obviously not dedicated to the cause, seeing as I skipped last week, but here is me making up for my delinquency:

(Take Two!)

ONE

From my book shelf: Fr. James V. Schall's 'The Unseriousness of Human Affairs' (which is utterly fantastic):

"If we lack truth, especially if we deny truth is possible--the relativist position that dominates almost every university faculty today--nothing else that we lack will really matter much."

"It is a crime against humanity to make the materially poor also spiritually poor, to given them hope of only bread rather than every word that comes from God."

"The great source of public immorality is always private immorality, or to put it differently, there is no such thing as a sin that does not have public consequences, no such thing as a sin that does not require repentance and hence acknowledgment of the intrinsic disorder it puts into the world. Intellectual poverty is rooted in, and tends to, moral poverty, to an unwillingness to know the truth in action, to recognize the distinction of right and wrong and, more importantly, to live it."

"I consider utopians of every sort, therefore, to be intellectually poor, however sophisticated their systems. They are modern Pelagians who do not see any need of grace, who do not see any need of an independent truth by which they might correct their ideas about what the would should be like. And behind all these lofty theories is almost always a sinful, deviant heart bent on rejecting that conversion of soul from which all social reforms ultimately derives."

 

TWO

Last week and this week were major letter mailing weeks. I have been very bad about mailing letters these past few months to people whom I did not specifically promise one too, but the implied that I would, which is almost as bad. The Catholic guilt finally got to me and letters have been sent to places likes Happydale, Maryland, Santa Barbara, Clemson, Georgia and even to France, to my Little studying-abroad. It was fantastic!  Mail is like sending a little present, if one considers thought a gift.

This week I have also been working on Christmas cards. My mom sends out lots of Christmas cards to family and family friends every year and I decided I would send out Christmas cards this year too! I started looking around for local cards (to support the small businesses), but was generally dissatisfied with the selection out there. My oldest friend Bi started her own company called Prippie earlier this year and one day, while perusing her site, I saw she was doing stationary! Well, that settled it. She designed a card for me and I placed my order! I am crossing my fingers I can get them sent out by early next week... my hand keeps cramping up. I know; I can be a total pansy.


Me and Bi are like peas and carrots

THREE 

Last week, Jill, a friend from college, posted a link for Gmail users and, upon clicking on it, I was vaguely amused by the list of general topics I am interested in according to Google analytics; topics like Law and Government, News, Campaigns and Elections, Humanities and Philosophy. All very interesting topics, yes? Then I read this: Demographics - Gender - Male.

Oh no, no, no. Google, you are mistaken. I am definitely a female.

A little indignant and wanting answers of why Google would say my gender is a male (my Gmail does start with "julie"- which is not an androgynous name), I clicked on the question mark, which told me, "Based on the websites you've visited, we think you're interested in topics that mostly interest men."

Not sure whether to be infuriated or laugh over the mishap of gender recognition, I gchatted another college friend, ZS, and told him what Google told me; I told him I was not sure how to take it. He replied "I don't imagine you google hollywood relationships enough." Always the insightful one, ZS.

Still not satisfied, I gchatted Jill herself, and she apparently had the same results. Then she said what I was thinking: "Kind of sexist, in a way."

The worse part is, however, that I am not even sure how to make Google Ad Preferences think I am a female. How many hours of internet searches would convince Google I am a girl? And what kind of searches? It begs the question that, even in the age of physical female liberation, are we still considered silly creatures mentally? Women want equal pay and reproductive rights, but they can't think seriously about life. And if a person can't think seriously, how could they be expected to act so? 

This makes me think of one of my favorite lines from Jane Austen, at the end of 'Pride and Prejudice,' when Mr. Bennett forbids Kitty from leaving the house unless she can prove she has spent 10 minutes in a rational manner! Always the pragmatist, Mr. Bennett.

FOUR

A very happy Advent to all of you! I know, this should have been first in my list. OSV posted a wonderful list of "Ten Ways to Make Advent more Meaningful":

Reflect on Advent as a time of waiting. The idea of waiting is not popular in our culture of instant gratification, but it creates in us a new kind of self-discipline that helps us to appreciate the present moment and look to the future with peaceful anticipation.

Turn your breathing into a prayer. Take a few deep breaths throughout the day and imagine that God's love is flowing through you to every part of your body. As you exhale, let go of tension, worry and anything else that is not of God.

Long for the Lord. Make it a habit of silently praying, "Come, Lord Jesus."

Unite with Mary. Set aside time once a day to join Our Lady in praying the Canticle of Mary (see Lk 1:46-55).

Do something nice for someone every day. It might be an encouraging word, a phone call, a note of appreciation or a little act of kindness.

Get rid of grudges. Use Advent as an opportunity to let go of any anger or resentment that you might be holding onto.

Pray for patience. If you find yourself becoming anxious or upset, ask the Lord for the gift of patience. Then make a conscious effort to be a more patient person.

Offer up something painful or difficult in your life. The best way to transform trials and tensions is to turn them into a prayer.

Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Attend your parish penance service and take advantage of the opportunity to cleanse your soul in preparation for the coming of Jesus.

Think about the special gifts and talents God has given you. How are you using these gifts?

FIVE

I saw Harry Potter 7 1/2 with my family last weekend. I liked most of it, except for one unnecessarily graphic scene and Dobby's death. No, I did not cry when he died. Apparently I am in the minority when I say it was overdone and I was unmoved. I did shed a tear when Hermione wiped her parents' memories; I was not expecting that scene in the first two minutes of the movie. I like how true the movie's script stayed to the book. I spent half the movie squeezing my sister's hand though because I was so scared. Yes, scared. Yes, I've read all the books.

Nevertheless, I am way more excited for the new Narnia movie: yay 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader'!

SIX

Not a huge fan of the title of this video ("The Advent Conspiracy" -- it is too hip for my lingo!), but the Advent message here is clear and meaningful to the spirit of the liturgical season. 

SEVEN

If you do not read The New Criterion, I suggest you pick up a copy. Even perusing through it will make your soul soar with its fine prose, wit and insight. Here is a Notes & Comments piece from the November issue, called "Speaking of multicultualism... On Chancellor Merkel's recent comments."

Do you suppose Angela Merkel, the trenchant German Chancellor, reads The New Criterion? We ask because she seems to share our antipathy toward “multiculturalism,” that spurious doctrine, born in the hothouse of Western universities, that proclaims the glories of “diversity” and egalitarianism but is really a blind for anti-Western, and especially anti-American, animus. “All cultures are equal,” chant the multiculturalists, like characters out of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, “but some are more equal than others.” It is one of the great rhetorical ironies of the age that what travels under the name of “multiculturalism” is really a form of mono-cultural animus directed against the dominant culture—our culture, the culture of the West. In essence, as Samuel Huntington noted in his book Who Are We?, multiculturalism is “anti-European civilization. . . .


It is basically an anti-Western ideology.” Multiculturalists claim to be fostering a progressive cultural cosmopolitanism distinguished by superior sensitivity to the downtrodden and dispossessed. In fact, they encourage an orgy of self-flagellating liberal guilt as impotent as it is insatiable. The “sensitivity” of the multiculturalist is an index not of moral refinement but of moral vacuousness. As the French essayist Pascal Bruckner observed, “An overblown conscience is an empty conscience”:

Compassion ceases if there is nothing but compassion, and revulsion turns to insensitivity. Our “soft pity,” as Stefan Zweig calls it, is stimulated, because guilt is a convenient substitute for action where action is impossible. Without the power to do anything, sensitivity becomes our main aim. The aim is not so much to do anything, as to be judged. Salvation lies in the verdict that declares us to be wrong.

Multiculturalism is a moral intoxicant; its thrill centers around the emotion of superior virtue; its hangover subsists on a diet of ignorance and blighted “good intentions.”


Wherever the imperatives of multiculturalism have touched the curriculum, they have left broad swaths of anti-Western attitudinizing competing for attention with quite astonishing historical blindness. Courses on minorities, women’s issues, and the Third World proliferate; the teaching of mainstream history slides into oblivion. “The mood,” Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. wrote in The Disuniting of America, his excellent book on the depredations of multiculturalism, “is one of divesting Americans of the sinful European inheritance and seeking redemptive infusions from non-Western cultures.”


But multiculturalism is not only an academic phenomenon. The attitudes it fosters have profound social as well as intellectual consequences. One consequence has been a sharp rise in the phenomenon of immigration without—or with only partial—assimilation: a dangerous demographic trend that threatens the identity of host countries, in Europe as well as the United States, in the most basic way.


These various agents of dissolution are also elements in a wider culture war: the contest to define how we live and what counts as “the good” in the good life. Anti-Americanism and the charge of being “Eurocentric” occupy such prominent places on the agenda of the culture wars precisely because the traditional values of Western identity are deeply at odds with the radical, de-civilizing tenets of the multiculturalist enterprise. This is something that seems to have been vividly borne in upon Ms. Merkel. The attempts to build a “multicultural” society in Germany, she recently acknowledged, have “failed, utterly failed.” Immigrants, she said, in a speech that stunned the bien pensants, need to do more, much more, to integrate into German society, including learning German.


Kudos to Ms. Merkel for having the courage to articulate this home truth: that immigration is fine, but that there should be no immigration without assimilation. We suspect other European leaders are coming to the same realization, though whether they can muster Ms. Merkel’s forthrightness remains to be seen. Given the dour demographic realities in Europe, it may be a recognition that is too little too late. But it is nonetheless heartening to see this blunt political reality publicly acknowledged for what it is.

In other news, I've spent the week explaining to my dog that this is NOT Take Heidi to Work Week just because my sisters keeps telling her it is. Tonight, I have another Kappa sister's wedding and tomorrow a Happydale friend and his date will be attending a wedding here in my hometown and staying at my casa. That combined with summoning the endurance to keep writing should provide me with a fun and interesting weekend! I hope y'all have the same! Check out Conversion Diary for more and Happy Friday!

It's business, It's business time!

First order of business: Just when I think Fr. Barron couldn't win any more Julie points, he opens his mouth: 



Secondly, my friend Scott wrote/ sang this song and it is haunting and beautiful. I love it and y'all might too:



Thirdly, my big in Kappa, who is also a very dear friend of mine, is moving to South Korea tomorrow. She will be teaching ESL for at least the next year. Please pray for her safe travels and safety, especially since North Korea is now showing aggression towards the South. She will also be keeping a blog called Gaudete, if any of you are interested in following her adventures.

Fourthly, today is my bestest Bear-Bear's birthday! For those unawares, this is the song we've danced to every time we've turned twenty-something:



Finally, keeping my fingers crossed that this paper will be done by tomorrow... then uncrossing them, because that is a terribly difficult way to type. But as a bonus, I changed the background of my blog. I like the updated templates. You like?

Happy Tuesday!

Betsy and Zach, Sittin' in a Tree

For all college friends who couldn't make it to the wedding, and all other gentle readers, here is the missus and the mister, post-wedding ceremony:

Kappas at the cake and punch reception:

Sight-seeing between the reception and dinner:

I definitely sat at the cool table:

All the Kappas!

We're so excited! And we just can't hide it!

Bonus picture: action shot of Heidi licking Muffy's face after she got back from her last performance of The Sound of Music; so adorable.



Today is one of those miserable days in which I am literally bursting to write 16 different articles and must instead content myself to one topic, the one being actual work I get paid for... oh well. Happy Monday!