This evening I attended the University of St Andrews Christmas Carol Service. At 7 pm Katherine, Rebecca and I queued up outside of Holy Trinity Church (the city of St Andrews' parish church) in below-freezing temperatures in order to get good seats (Rebecca was adamant: 'in the middle without a pillar'). The service wasn't set to begin until 8, but already there was a line forming outside of the medieval building. They let us into the church around 7:15, and from that moment right up until the service started at 8, people--the vast majority of whom were University students--poured into the church. By 7:45, it was practically standing room only, as roughly 1500 students, staff and townspeople filled the pews and transepts. The air was filled with excitement, expectation, and merriment. The scarlet undergraduate gowns worn by a large portion of the students lent to the atmosphere of festivities, as did the ball gowns, tuxedos, and formal kilts sported by those students who were headed off to the Christmas Ball after the service. There were people in their Sunday best, and students wearing jeans. I even saw a student with a mohawk in attendance.
I remarked to my friends that you wouldn't see such a sight as this at an American university, unless it was a Christian school. Not only did the secular University sanction this event as a significant event on the academic calendar, the authorities took an active part in the service. The University Choir sang and the University Organist (when your institution in 600 years old, you have such a position!) conducted the singing. And the Principal/Vice Chancellor (President) read the First Chapter of John (which also happens to be my favorite passage). I guess it is difficult to argue with 600 years of tradition!
The University even filmed the service in order to post it on the University's website. I was hoping to post the link at the bottom of this post, but it isn't up yet. As soon as they upload it, I will post it here. Since the service ran for an hour and a half, I'm not suggesting that you watch the whole thing, just the first carol, it will give you a sense of the event!
It was a beautiful service in which the Gospel was preached by the reading of Scripture, the prayers of the Honorary Chaplain, and the message of the University Chaplain. And over 1000 students, many of whom would never willing set foot in a church under normal circumstances, freely chose to listen and take part. They had even come early and waited outside in the cold!
We sang a number of familiar Christmas carols and some familiar carols to different or unfamiliar tunes (We sang 'Angels From the Realms of Glory' to the tune of 'Angels We Have Heard On High'). Every British carol service, I have been told, opens with 'Once In Royal David's City', which, two Christmases ago was new to me, but has since become a favorite. We also sang 'O Come All Ye Faithful'. In Latin. It was beautiful! (The title of this post is from the verse which is loosely translated as 'Sing choirs of Angels, sing in exaltation')
The cords of the organ reverberated to the rafters, the strains of the brass quartet echoed through the nave, and the voices, over one thousand strong, lustily filled the evening with the message of Hope and Salvation, and the Redeemer born in a stable.
Happy Christmas!
Sunday, 13 December 2009
Monday, 30 November 2009
A touch of madness...
Seneca once said that "There is no great genius without some touch of madness." If this is the case, I must be a whopping genius, because I certainly have been experiencing more than a mere touch of madness these last few weeks! With four jobs and a PhD to write, my November was rather busy and somewhat frazzled. I nanny for three hours three evenings a week, teach two tutorial sessions of undergraduates every week, proofread for a wonderful friend with some learning differences, and organize wine receptions for my department every other week. I must admit I was rather pleased with myself when it dawned on me that I have four jobs... for now I feel like a proper overworked postgraduate!
In addition to all of this paid work, there is the work that I am paying for... writing my thesis. While they are taking much longer than anticipated (things of this nature usually do) I plan to have two chapters done and dusted by Christmas. Or at least to the point that I can shelve them for a year and move on to the next section! Here's hoping...
Let's see... what else has been going on... Oh! The annual Reformation Studies Reading Weekend was two weekends ago. Once again, the faculty and postgrads of the department scurried off to the Highlands. Without any major responsibilities this year--apart from introducing my supervisor's paper session on Sunday morning--I was able to relax and enjoy this sojourn from The Auld Grey Toon. I rode up early Friday morning in the car with my friends Adam and Andy. We left St Andrews at 6:30 am because the guys wanted to climb Schiehallion, one of the taller monros (mountains) in Scotland. The hotel hosting the Institute's weekend is located near the monro's base. Before you ask, I did NOT go up the mountain. It was my responsibility to call the authorities if the guys didn't return by the pre-arranged time! I personally feel I got the better part of this deal: while they were battling gale-force winds, snow, sleet, and horizontal rain, I was sat warmly by the fire in the Hotel lounge, sipping pots of tea, and reading.
Last week my housemates and I hosted 25 of our friends for a Thanksgiving Dinner. Most of us had to teach and/or attend seminars Thursday afternoon/evening. So we had our Dinner a bit early. But it worked out wonderfully! And boy did we have a spread! A 17lb turkey, prepared by Katherine, trays of cheeses and veggies for appetizers and mashed potatoes courtesy of Ginger, and sweet potatoes a la Patty Wackford prepared by me (Patty, they were a hit! Your potatoes have gone global-everyone wants the recipe!). I made pumpkin pie from scratch. From a fresh pumpkin. Not a can. His name was George. And as a friend commented, George met his end in a particularly early modern-fashion: he was beheaded, disemboweled, quartered, roasted, and then skinned. (This is what happens when historians bake.) In addition to the George pies, all of our friends brought dishes too: stuffing, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, green bean casserole, pies, cookies, pavlova, wine, champagne, etc. At one point someone commented that the meal was even better than what they would have had if they were back home, to which my Scottish friend Claire replied that that was because 5% of America was in attendance! It was a good evening... with lots of full and thankful tummies.
The next day, we started to put up our Christmas decorations! Which worked out perfectly, since my family always puts up the tree on Thanksgiving Day and Katherine's family puts theirs up the day after the Thanksgiving meal! So having our dinner on Wednesday was Providential! There are still some decorations that need hanging, but all in good time! I need something to look forward too after long days in the office!
Today is the graduation ceremony for all the postgrads who finished their degrees this summer. A number of good friends have returned for the occasion and I hope to get a chance to see them all before they head back to the "real world".
Speaking of the "real world", if I want to fend it off a bit longer, I better get back to the books!
In addition to all of this paid work, there is the work that I am paying for... writing my thesis. While they are taking much longer than anticipated (things of this nature usually do) I plan to have two chapters done and dusted by Christmas. Or at least to the point that I can shelve them for a year and move on to the next section! Here's hoping...
Let's see... what else has been going on... Oh! The annual Reformation Studies Reading Weekend was two weekends ago. Once again, the faculty and postgrads of the department scurried off to the Highlands. Without any major responsibilities this year--apart from introducing my supervisor's paper session on Sunday morning--I was able to relax and enjoy this sojourn from The Auld Grey Toon. I rode up early Friday morning in the car with my friends Adam and Andy. We left St Andrews at 6:30 am because the guys wanted to climb Schiehallion, one of the taller monros (mountains) in Scotland. The hotel hosting the Institute's weekend is located near the monro's base. Before you ask, I did NOT go up the mountain. It was my responsibility to call the authorities if the guys didn't return by the pre-arranged time! I personally feel I got the better part of this deal: while they were battling gale-force winds, snow, sleet, and horizontal rain, I was sat warmly by the fire in the Hotel lounge, sipping pots of tea, and reading.
Last week my housemates and I hosted 25 of our friends for a Thanksgiving Dinner. Most of us had to teach and/or attend seminars Thursday afternoon/evening. So we had our Dinner a bit early. But it worked out wonderfully! And boy did we have a spread! A 17lb turkey, prepared by Katherine, trays of cheeses and veggies for appetizers and mashed potatoes courtesy of Ginger, and sweet potatoes a la Patty Wackford prepared by me (Patty, they were a hit! Your potatoes have gone global-everyone wants the recipe!). I made pumpkin pie from scratch. From a fresh pumpkin. Not a can. His name was George. And as a friend commented, George met his end in a particularly early modern-fashion: he was beheaded, disemboweled, quartered, roasted, and then skinned. (This is what happens when historians bake.) In addition to the George pies, all of our friends brought dishes too: stuffing, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, green bean casserole, pies, cookies, pavlova, wine, champagne, etc. At one point someone commented that the meal was even better than what they would have had if they were back home, to which my Scottish friend Claire replied that that was because 5% of America was in attendance! It was a good evening... with lots of full and thankful tummies.
The next day, we started to put up our Christmas decorations! Which worked out perfectly, since my family always puts up the tree on Thanksgiving Day and Katherine's family puts theirs up the day after the Thanksgiving meal! So having our dinner on Wednesday was Providential! There are still some decorations that need hanging, but all in good time! I need something to look forward too after long days in the office!
Today is the graduation ceremony for all the postgrads who finished their degrees this summer. A number of good friends have returned for the occasion and I hope to get a chance to see them all before they head back to the "real world".
Speaking of the "real world", if I want to fend it off a bit longer, I better get back to the books!
Monday, 26 October 2009
Broken Pieces
Last night I broke the sugar bowl. Not just any sugar bowl. The sugar bowl with sentimental value. It wasn't an expensive piece of pottery, nor was it particularly pretty. In fact, it bordered on the ugly, if not outright obnoxious. But to me it was wonderful; because of the warm and happy sentiments that it represented. While its story involves my grandmother, my best friend, and an ugly teapot, I won't bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that I was devastated when the little bowl smashed to bits.
The truly frustrating part of the whole ordeal is that just 15 minutes before its untimely demise, I had prevented the bowl from breaking as it fell off a shelf. I had just finished cleaning up the spilt sugar and was returning the sugar bowl to its home on the cupboard, when it slipped again and shattered on the counter. There was a sickening 'pop' and a scattering of pottery. I instantly felt sick to my stomach, as tears welled up in my eyes. (And anyone who knows me well knows that I don't cry.)
And while I plan to glue the the pieces back together, I cannot put sugar in it anymore. The little bowl with the gaudy butterfly will never be the same again.
We are all broken pieces of pottery. God the Father is the potter who formed us out of the clay. This fallen, fractured world jostles us about, weakening, wearing us down, chipping at us. Sometimes the choices we make cause us to crack. Sometimes those choices cause us to totter, to fall, and to shatter.
When my dear little sugar bowl smashed across the laminate counter top, my heart was sick. To our Heavenly Father we are so much more valuable than a silly sugar bowl. Does He feel a wrenching loss in His heart, magnified by infinity, when we get ourselves into scrapes, when we totter on the edge, when we challenge His sovereignty? Countless times He has kept us from trouble, shielded us from pain. At times, He has cleaned up the messes we make. But still we insist on forging ahead, tempting destruction yet again.
And then there are the times when the circumstances we find ourselves in are not of our own making. But they can crush us, nonetheless. Does the Lord of Heaven, Who imagined galaxies and spoke them into existence, weep and agonize over our broken state? Does His heart feel sick for us?
I believe so. But He does not abandon us to our fractured condition. Regardless of the cause of our brokenness, Christ came to put us back together. After all, 'through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.' Who better to mend the broken pieces. He Himself is the glue that bonds the fragments our renewed spirit: 'He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.'
We certainly will not be as we were before. Like my little bowl, we will be unable to hold the same things again.
Unlike my little bowl, we will be filled with His Spirit (which is infinitely better than being filled with sugar).
The truly frustrating part of the whole ordeal is that just 15 minutes before its untimely demise, I had prevented the bowl from breaking as it fell off a shelf. I had just finished cleaning up the spilt sugar and was returning the sugar bowl to its home on the cupboard, when it slipped again and shattered on the counter. There was a sickening 'pop' and a scattering of pottery. I instantly felt sick to my stomach, as tears welled up in my eyes. (And anyone who knows me well knows that I don't cry.)
And while I plan to glue the the pieces back together, I cannot put sugar in it anymore. The little bowl with the gaudy butterfly will never be the same again.
We are all broken pieces of pottery. God the Father is the potter who formed us out of the clay. This fallen, fractured world jostles us about, weakening, wearing us down, chipping at us. Sometimes the choices we make cause us to crack. Sometimes those choices cause us to totter, to fall, and to shatter.
When my dear little sugar bowl smashed across the laminate counter top, my heart was sick. To our Heavenly Father we are so much more valuable than a silly sugar bowl. Does He feel a wrenching loss in His heart, magnified by infinity, when we get ourselves into scrapes, when we totter on the edge, when we challenge His sovereignty? Countless times He has kept us from trouble, shielded us from pain. At times, He has cleaned up the messes we make. But still we insist on forging ahead, tempting destruction yet again.
And then there are the times when the circumstances we find ourselves in are not of our own making. But they can crush us, nonetheless. Does the Lord of Heaven, Who imagined galaxies and spoke them into existence, weep and agonize over our broken state? Does His heart feel sick for us?
I believe so. But He does not abandon us to our fractured condition. Regardless of the cause of our brokenness, Christ came to put us back together. After all, 'through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.' Who better to mend the broken pieces. He Himself is the glue that bonds the fragments our renewed spirit: 'He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.'
We certainly will not be as we were before. Like my little bowl, we will be unable to hold the same things again.
Unlike my little bowl, we will be filled with His Spirit (which is infinitely better than being filled with sugar).
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Getting Into The Thick Of It
The term has begun in earnest and I am once again up to my eyeballs in work! Early this month I handed in my first completed chapter... all 18,626 words (52 pages). My supervisor was fairly pleased with it and said that the piece kept him interested from page one to page fifty-two! So interested that it got him wanting to know even more, so he suggested that with a bit more work, I could split the one chapter into two! I've been working on crafting the revised first chapter for the last couple of weeks and plan to have it completed, done and finally dusted by November 5th (Guy Fawkes Night!). And the second chapter should be done before Christmas!
While I have been rather diligently working on these chapters, I have not been without distractions. My housemate Katherine slipped a disk in her back two weeks ago was confined to her bed in extreme pain for the first 10 days. We housemates have rallied and have been acting as nurses with the help of our friend Claire, who spent all of last year working as a nurses' assistant in one of the busiest hospitals in Scotland. Please keep Katherine in your prayers. She is slowly but surely recovering. She is doing well, and has been moving about the house on her own for the last few days. But she is still in a lot of pain and has a long way to go...
On a less painful note (depending on your perspective) I have been given a teaching assistantship! I am officially a "tutor", although the job description is a bit different here than it is back in the states. Once a week I actually teach 2 groups of 6 undergraduates about "Early Modern Europe, 1450-1650". As part of their course, they are supposed to attend the three lectures each week, given by the School of History's expert on that week's topic (lecture attendance is NOT mandatory) and they attend the tutorial session, (of which I run 2 out of 36 sessions). The tutorial IS mandatory. In it we we discuss the assigned readings as well as anything the tutor feels is pertinent to the subject for the week. This week we are doing the Reformation. Muahahahahah! [That is my evil laugh] I warned my students that they better do this week's assignment properly, because I've read every book on this weeks "suggested reading list" (of which they are to choose one) so they better not try to b.s. anything. I think they departed my classroom with an appropriate degree of fear. Besides being the part of academia that I love the most , this teaching opportunity provides me with another type of satisfaction: while I may be the lowest rung, I am on the staff totem poll at the University of St Andrews!
As for my travels, I don't have any exciting trips planned for this term. I'm just staying in Scotland. A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit my Scottish family, the Plenderleiths. It takes a three hour train ride to get there, but it is always worth it to spend time with family! I plan to visit them again the weekend after Thanksgiving (which is NOT a holiday here). I'm also planning to go to Loch Ness again, with my housemates Katherine and Ginger, and our friend Claire. We're going the first full weekend in November, and I am so excited! It is very much like going to Deep Creek Lake for me, except this body of water has a legendary inhabitant! Plus, I get to drive! I miss driving so much! Some of you might recall that I went up to Loch Ness last autumn with some friends (I drove then, too, and we all survived). Katherine and I loved the trip so much, that we decided to make it an annual thing. We're not planning to really do anything, just relax in a cabin in the woods!
Two weekends after we get back from Loch Ness, I'll be out of town yet again. My department has its annual Reading Weekend scheduled for the middle of November. Faculty and postgrads from Reformation History head off to a hotel north of Perth, on the edge of the Highlands, for an informal conference weekend.
So while I'm not physically venturing very far this term (mentally my studies take me all the way back to the 1520s-40s) and while all of the destinations are familiar, I guess I'm still going to be rather nomadic in November! So maybe my next post will have some photos to go with it!
While I have been rather diligently working on these chapters, I have not been without distractions. My housemate Katherine slipped a disk in her back two weeks ago was confined to her bed in extreme pain for the first 10 days. We housemates have rallied and have been acting as nurses with the help of our friend Claire, who spent all of last year working as a nurses' assistant in one of the busiest hospitals in Scotland. Please keep Katherine in your prayers. She is slowly but surely recovering. She is doing well, and has been moving about the house on her own for the last few days. But she is still in a lot of pain and has a long way to go...
On a less painful note (depending on your perspective) I have been given a teaching assistantship! I am officially a "tutor", although the job description is a bit different here than it is back in the states. Once a week I actually teach 2 groups of 6 undergraduates about "Early Modern Europe, 1450-1650". As part of their course, they are supposed to attend the three lectures each week, given by the School of History's expert on that week's topic (lecture attendance is NOT mandatory) and they attend the tutorial session, (of which I run 2 out of 36 sessions). The tutorial IS mandatory. In it we we discuss the assigned readings as well as anything the tutor feels is pertinent to the subject for the week. This week we are doing the Reformation. Muahahahahah! [That is my evil laugh] I warned my students that they better do this week's assignment properly, because I've read every book on this weeks "suggested reading list" (of which they are to choose one) so they better not try to b.s. anything. I think they departed my classroom with an appropriate degree of fear. Besides being the part of academia that I love the most , this teaching opportunity provides me with another type of satisfaction: while I may be the lowest rung, I am on the staff totem poll at the University of St Andrews!
As for my travels, I don't have any exciting trips planned for this term. I'm just staying in Scotland. A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit my Scottish family, the Plenderleiths. It takes a three hour train ride to get there, but it is always worth it to spend time with family! I plan to visit them again the weekend after Thanksgiving (which is NOT a holiday here). I'm also planning to go to Loch Ness again, with my housemates Katherine and Ginger, and our friend Claire. We're going the first full weekend in November, and I am so excited! It is very much like going to Deep Creek Lake for me, except this body of water has a legendary inhabitant! Plus, I get to drive! I miss driving so much! Some of you might recall that I went up to Loch Ness last autumn with some friends (I drove then, too, and we all survived). Katherine and I loved the trip so much, that we decided to make it an annual thing. We're not planning to really do anything, just relax in a cabin in the woods!
Two weekends after we get back from Loch Ness, I'll be out of town yet again. My department has its annual Reading Weekend scheduled for the middle of November. Faculty and postgrads from Reformation History head off to a hotel north of Perth, on the edge of the Highlands, for an informal conference weekend.
So while I'm not physically venturing very far this term (mentally my studies take me all the way back to the 1520s-40s) and while all of the destinations are familiar, I guess I'm still going to be rather nomadic in November! So maybe my next post will have some photos to go with it!
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Edinburgh Military Tattoo
The week after I got back to Scotland, WAY BACK in August, my housemates Lisa and Katherine and our friend Kim and I went to Edinburgh to see the Annual Military Tattoo. Pipe and drum bands from around the world performed. It was amazing! Enjoy the photos and the videos!
Entrance to the Tattoo
A Segment of Amazing Grace (on the phone with Mom!)
As always, if you want to see the photos larger, or at your own pace, just click on one and it will take you to the online photo album!
Entrance to the Tattoo
A Segment of Amazing Grace (on the phone with Mom!)
As always, if you want to see the photos larger, or at your own pace, just click on one and it will take you to the online photo album!
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Love in Any Language
The following scene is from an Israeli movie called "The Band's Visit". The premise of the film is that a small Egyptian police orchestra goes to Israel to play at the opening of an Arab cultural center. Unfortunately they end up in the wrong town, but are helped by some Israeli locals, who put them up for the night. In this scene Egyptian Haled (in the blue uniform) helps Israeli Papi (in the white shirt) woo Julia, the cousin of Papi's friend. The film flits between Hebrew, Arabic and English. Unfortunately the clip is not subtitled. Although there really isn't much talking in this scene, I'll give you the gist of what they are saying.
In the beginning of the clip Papi calls to his friend saying that "The cousin is crying!" and he doesn't know why. The friend, occupied with his own girlfriend, says to "do something about it". A little while later, after Papi hands Julia the handkerchief, Haled suggests to Papi that "she needs a drink". Papi turns to Julia and shouts "you need a drink!" The rest is self explanatory. The clip is a bit grainy, but keep an eye on Haled's facial expressions! They are classic!
The film is quite lovely and poignant in a sweet way. (And it is subtitled!) I highly recommend it!
In the beginning of the clip Papi calls to his friend saying that "The cousin is crying!" and he doesn't know why. The friend, occupied with his own girlfriend, says to "do something about it". A little while later, after Papi hands Julia the handkerchief, Haled suggests to Papi that "she needs a drink". Papi turns to Julia and shouts "you need a drink!" The rest is self explanatory. The clip is a bit grainy, but keep an eye on Haled's facial expressions! They are classic!
The film is quite lovely and poignant in a sweet way. (And it is subtitled!) I highly recommend it!
Monday, 31 August 2009
Old York, Old York
About two months ago (has it really been that long?!?) on July 3rd I gave a paper at a post-graduate conference at the University of York. It was my first paper, and went rather well. But the best part of the whole thing was that I got to spend a long weekend in Yorkshire, England visiting with my friend Adam. Adam is a fellow PhD student here at St Andrews and very much like a younger brother to me. He was also presenting a paper at the conference, and since he is from the area, we stayed with his folks in Bingley, about 45 minutes from the city of York. (I know all the Jane Austen fans in my readership enjoyed the name of Adam’s hometown!)
Adam’s folks were the most amazing hosts! Since I was going to be staying at theirs over the Fourth of July weekend (which, for obvious reasons, is NOT a national holiday over here!) they felt it was necessary to have a “proper” American cook-out on the Fourth! Pat (Adam’s mom) made me an apple pie, and a cheesecake (which she had read somewhere was an American tradition on the Fourth) and decorated it with raspberries and blueberries, so it was Red, White, & Blue! Adam and his dad, Miles, grilled burgers, some “spare ribs” and some kabobs. The best part though, was that all of these foods had a distinctly British flavor to them! But it was perfect: American looking food with a British taste on the Fourth of July. I’m sure there is a metaphor in there somewhere! They toasted me, wishing me a “Happy Fourth of July” and I toasted them, wishing them a “Happy-Day-We-Ceased-To-Be-Your-Problem”!
In addition to the good food and the good company of the weekend, I got to do some sight-seeing! We drove through the Yorkshire Dales—the rolling and extremely hilly countryside. My first evening in town Adam and his dad took me to a wonderful little pub deep in the Dales. We had to follow a winding, curving single lane road that was often bordered on both sides by a stone wall—which made it rather exciting when we were approached by a car coming from the opposite direction! Either we or they would have to back up, to a ‘passing place’, and let the other pass! The pub, a 270 year old establishment called the George Arms, was the only thing in this little community, besides a small and ancient Anglican church (parts dating to the 13th century) and an old farm!
During my little sojourn south, I also had the opportunity to climb around the ruins Fountains Abbey. Fountains was once one of the largest and most influential religious houses in England. But in the 1530s, when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and pocketed all of their wealth, Fountains Abbey was deserted and striped. The land was given to a noble family who used the stones from the church and the monastery buildings to build an estate house around the corner—literally. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they turned the grounds into luxurious water gardens.
On Sunday we drove to The Lake District, a part of England famous for its, well, lakes! The area reminded me so much of Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland! But instead of log cabins and mostly-glass lake houses, there were stone cottages and Victorian hotels. Beatrix Potter (writer and illustrator of the Peter Rabbit books) spent a considerable amount of time there. And I can see why, it was so beautiful and peaceful.
We spent Friday evening (the conference took the whole day) and all of Monday in the city of York. What a beautiful city! It used to be one of the largest and most important cities in England, and still maintains its medieval feel. The streets are narrow and winding, with timber frame and plaster buildings crowding in on the sides. All roads lead to the Yorkminster (the Cathedral), which once rivalled Canterbury in ecclesiastical importance (and in some ways, still does). We explored the Cathedral from the vaults and catacombs underneath to the roof of the tower above and everything in between! Unfortunately, my camera, ever my companion these last two years, gave up the ghost while taking pictures inside the Cathedral. Fortunately Adam had his camera and I was still able to take pictures to share with you!
Spending time with Adam and his family, going to the Lakes District, and the whole summer holiday feel of the weekend really made me want to go home for a visit so it worked out quite nicely that I got to do just that ten days after I got back from York!
Adam’s folks were the most amazing hosts! Since I was going to be staying at theirs over the Fourth of July weekend (which, for obvious reasons, is NOT a national holiday over here!) they felt it was necessary to have a “proper” American cook-out on the Fourth! Pat (Adam’s mom) made me an apple pie, and a cheesecake (which she had read somewhere was an American tradition on the Fourth) and decorated it with raspberries and blueberries, so it was Red, White, & Blue! Adam and his dad, Miles, grilled burgers, some “spare ribs” and some kabobs. The best part though, was that all of these foods had a distinctly British flavor to them! But it was perfect: American looking food with a British taste on the Fourth of July. I’m sure there is a metaphor in there somewhere! They toasted me, wishing me a “Happy Fourth of July” and I toasted them, wishing them a “Happy-Day-We-Ceased-To-Be-Your-Problem”!
In addition to the good food and the good company of the weekend, I got to do some sight-seeing! We drove through the Yorkshire Dales—the rolling and extremely hilly countryside. My first evening in town Adam and his dad took me to a wonderful little pub deep in the Dales. We had to follow a winding, curving single lane road that was often bordered on both sides by a stone wall—which made it rather exciting when we were approached by a car coming from the opposite direction! Either we or they would have to back up, to a ‘passing place’, and let the other pass! The pub, a 270 year old establishment called the George Arms, was the only thing in this little community, besides a small and ancient Anglican church (parts dating to the 13th century) and an old farm!
During my little sojourn south, I also had the opportunity to climb around the ruins Fountains Abbey. Fountains was once one of the largest and most influential religious houses in England. But in the 1530s, when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and pocketed all of their wealth, Fountains Abbey was deserted and striped. The land was given to a noble family who used the stones from the church and the monastery buildings to build an estate house around the corner—literally. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they turned the grounds into luxurious water gardens.
On Sunday we drove to The Lake District, a part of England famous for its, well, lakes! The area reminded me so much of Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland! But instead of log cabins and mostly-glass lake houses, there were stone cottages and Victorian hotels. Beatrix Potter (writer and illustrator of the Peter Rabbit books) spent a considerable amount of time there. And I can see why, it was so beautiful and peaceful.
We spent Friday evening (the conference took the whole day) and all of Monday in the city of York. What a beautiful city! It used to be one of the largest and most important cities in England, and still maintains its medieval feel. The streets are narrow and winding, with timber frame and plaster buildings crowding in on the sides. All roads lead to the Yorkminster (the Cathedral), which once rivalled Canterbury in ecclesiastical importance (and in some ways, still does). We explored the Cathedral from the vaults and catacombs underneath to the roof of the tower above and everything in between! Unfortunately, my camera, ever my companion these last two years, gave up the ghost while taking pictures inside the Cathedral. Fortunately Adam had his camera and I was still able to take pictures to share with you!
Spending time with Adam and his family, going to the Lakes District, and the whole summer holiday feel of the weekend really made me want to go home for a visit so it worked out quite nicely that I got to do just that ten days after I got back from York!
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Chaio, Italia! Bonjour, Suisse!
[I would have posted this blog entry sooner, but I was having difficulty up-loading my photos from the camera to the computer! Sometimes technology can be a real pain! And something called Graduate School just kept getting in the way…]
A month ago, I was able to claw my way out from beneath the Mountain of Books (to which I have since returned) and take a short pleasure trip to Rome and then hopped a plane to Geneva for a conference! I traveled with my then-housemate Mary, my soon-to-be-housemate Katherine, and our friend Brittany.
Rome was sunny and warm…even hot! It was about 80/85 degrees. I know that’s not really hot by Maryland standards, but when you’ve been living in the moderate, chilly, damp climes of the UK, you get a little soft! We soaked up the sun from the moment we stepped off the plane from Edinburgh until the moment we boarded the plane to Geneva!
We left St Andrews at 3:15 IN THE MORNING on Sunday the 24th. Our flight was out at 6:30 am, it takes an hour to get to Edinburgh Airport, and we needed to check in two hours before our flight! While our cab was passing the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, the sun was peeking over the horizon. By the time we reached Cupar (about 20 minutes further down the road, the sun had officially risen (by 3:40!). We arrived in Rome on Sunday morning, around 11. After dropping our bags off at our hostel—and putting on some sunscreen—we headed straight to the Colosseum! From there we explored the ruins of the Forum. We headed further south, and stumbled across the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, which was right around the corner from our hostel!
On Monday we got up bright and early. And headed straight for the Spanish Steps! We took some detours—some planned, some not-so-planned—and wound up at the Piazza del Populo, which had an amazing overlook of the Eternal City. From there we wandered back to the Spanish Steps where we all had our Audrey Hepburn Moment! We enjoyed some gelato as we meandered towards the Church of St Mary of the Victory, where we admired Bernini’s “Ecstasy of St Theresa of Avila”. The church was built to celebrate the Catholic League’s victory over the Protestants at the Battle of White Mountain during the Thirty Years War (1620). In a way, visiting the chapel connected my semester’s travels: White Mountain is outside of Prague!
We also visited the Trevi Fountain, and some beautiful little churches along the way! From the Trevi Fountain (where we all threw in three coins and made three wishes: one for the future, one for the present, and the customary wish to return to Rome) we headed to the Piazza Navona. On our way we stumbled upon the Pantheon with it’s perfectly spherical dome and the tomb of Raphael! We had planned to have dinner in the Piazza Navona, but the prices were a bit steep, so we opted to eat at an outdoor café around the corner. It was perfect! The weather was cooling down, the lamps were lit beneath the café’s umbrellas, and the staff bustled happily about! The food was amazing, the atmosphere was lovely and relaxing. And the tiramisu was divine!
We spent all of Tuesday in the Vatican! For this Church historian, it was AMAZING! We spent all morning in the Vatican Museum’s, admiring all the art collected by the papacy for the last 2000 years! Dr. Grubb’s “Art and Society in the Renaissance” course came back to me in a flood! We lunched in St Peter’s Square and then headed into St Peter’s Basilica. We spent the whole afternoon in the Church! We explored from the crypts underneath (where I paid my respects to John Paul II) all the way to the top of the Dome! This church is MASSIVE! The views from the top were phenomenal! From the Vatican we wandered back to our hostel, stopping in “little” churches, shops, and piazzas along the way.
The next morning, Mary left us to return to St Andrews. Kat, Britt and I headed to the Piazza Navona for breakfast… and ended up sitting at the same café, at the same table through lunch! Ah, Rome! Later that afternoon we bid arrivederci to Roma, and boarded a plane for Geneva, Switzerland.
Katherine and I went to Geneva to attend the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference (SCSC). Brittany came along for the scenery and an opportunity to see the UN (she’s an International Relations major). The SCSC is usually held in the fall, in the States. But this 10 July marks the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth, so they moved the conference to the summer and to Geneva to celebrate! About 450 historians, literary scholars, and other academics came from all over the world to attend. I helped run the registration desk on Thursday morning (the first day of the conference) and worked with some really great post grads from other universities—Notre Dame, Penn State, Iowa, Cambridge, Munster, Zurich, Geneva; folks I plan to keep in touch with for a long time! I have a feeling we’ll be running into each other at conferences for the rest of our careers.
The Conference was amazing! Over the course of three days they had 157 sessions to choose from (consisting of about 3 papers each). My brother called it NerdFest 2009. He was right. And it was amazing! I got to rub elbows with some of the biggest names in my field.
But the really exciting thing was that I already knew most of them… because I see them on a regular basis at St Andrews! I always knew that St Andrews was a world-class institution, and that I have been blessed beyond measure to be earning two degrees there. But that was hammered home to me at the SCSC. At conferences of this nature, most people don’t really pay attention to the post grads. We haven’t made names for ourselves yet, because we’re just getting started. We’re nobodies. When I introduced myself to some of them, they kind of blew me off (like one individual, who had blown me off once before when I was applying to work on a PhD with them two years ago, at an American university which shall not be named). Conferences of this nature usually have more than their fair share of over-inflated egos and hot air. But for the most part, when I mentioned that I was at St Andrews, their ears perked up and suddenly I was a person of interest! St Andrews is one of the best (if not THE best) places in the world to study Reformation History.
Faculty members from my department were like rock stars at the conference. When other post grads found out where I study, they would sheepishly ask if I could introduce them to Andrew Pettegree or Bruce Gordon. (Bruce in particular was popular, as his highly anticipated biography of Calvin was scheduled for release two weeks later.) I was chatting with two post grads at the last evening reception when Andrew came over to ask if I had a ride from Edinburgh Airport to St Andrews for the next day. The two post grads’ eyes went wide. Andrew is a bit of a living legend, and here I was, talking with him about a taxi! About two seconds later, their jaws about dropped to the floor, because Bruce came over to joke with Andrew. I felt all professional, introducing these other post grads to Andrew and Bruce! Folks referred to them in hushed tones as Professor Pettegree or Professor Gordon. And I was thinking: “Its just Andrew. I’ve had dinner at his house and have ridden in cars with him. My office is next to his. And its just Bruce. I once helped disentangle his daughter’s hobby-horse from a radiator.”
Because the conference took up most of our time, Kat and I didn’t get to see much of the city of Geneva. We did take Friday afternoon off to explore a bit with Britt. And we usually ended up having dinner in the Old City in the evenings, with the other post grads and an academic or two. So I have some photos of Geneva in the slideshow, but not many. And unfortunately I didn’t think to take my camera with me to the conference, so there aren’t any pictures of my new, nerd-tastic friends.
I’ll just have to go back to Geneva. Aw, shucks. What a shame. ☺
All in all it was an AMAZING trip (as you can probably tell from my over-use of that word throughout this post)! And one of the best things about the whole thing is that the University of St Andrews paid for about a third of it! Because I was attending the conference, my PhD research allowance covered my airfare from Rome to Geneva, and Geneva to Edinburgh, my accommodation in Geneva, and a couple of meals at the conference hotel. Score! As stressful, nerve-wracking, and soul-sucking as postgraduate study can be, it certainly does have its perks!
Enjoy the photos!
[As always, if you want to see the slideshow photos in a large format, or would like to read the captions, just click on one of the pictures. It should take you to the photo album site I created the show on, where you can browse the pictures at your own pace.]
A month ago, I was able to claw my way out from beneath the Mountain of Books (to which I have since returned) and take a short pleasure trip to Rome and then hopped a plane to Geneva for a conference! I traveled with my then-housemate Mary, my soon-to-be-housemate Katherine, and our friend Brittany.
Rome was sunny and warm…even hot! It was about 80/85 degrees. I know that’s not really hot by Maryland standards, but when you’ve been living in the moderate, chilly, damp climes of the UK, you get a little soft! We soaked up the sun from the moment we stepped off the plane from Edinburgh until the moment we boarded the plane to Geneva!
We left St Andrews at 3:15 IN THE MORNING on Sunday the 24th. Our flight was out at 6:30 am, it takes an hour to get to Edinburgh Airport, and we needed to check in two hours before our flight! While our cab was passing the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, the sun was peeking over the horizon. By the time we reached Cupar (about 20 minutes further down the road, the sun had officially risen (by 3:40!). We arrived in Rome on Sunday morning, around 11. After dropping our bags off at our hostel—and putting on some sunscreen—we headed straight to the Colosseum! From there we explored the ruins of the Forum. We headed further south, and stumbled across the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, which was right around the corner from our hostel!
On Monday we got up bright and early. And headed straight for the Spanish Steps! We took some detours—some planned, some not-so-planned—and wound up at the Piazza del Populo, which had an amazing overlook of the Eternal City. From there we wandered back to the Spanish Steps where we all had our Audrey Hepburn Moment! We enjoyed some gelato as we meandered towards the Church of St Mary of the Victory, where we admired Bernini’s “Ecstasy of St Theresa of Avila”. The church was built to celebrate the Catholic League’s victory over the Protestants at the Battle of White Mountain during the Thirty Years War (1620). In a way, visiting the chapel connected my semester’s travels: White Mountain is outside of Prague!
We also visited the Trevi Fountain, and some beautiful little churches along the way! From the Trevi Fountain (where we all threw in three coins and made three wishes: one for the future, one for the present, and the customary wish to return to Rome) we headed to the Piazza Navona. On our way we stumbled upon the Pantheon with it’s perfectly spherical dome and the tomb of Raphael! We had planned to have dinner in the Piazza Navona, but the prices were a bit steep, so we opted to eat at an outdoor café around the corner. It was perfect! The weather was cooling down, the lamps were lit beneath the café’s umbrellas, and the staff bustled happily about! The food was amazing, the atmosphere was lovely and relaxing. And the tiramisu was divine!
We spent all of Tuesday in the Vatican! For this Church historian, it was AMAZING! We spent all morning in the Vatican Museum’s, admiring all the art collected by the papacy for the last 2000 years! Dr. Grubb’s “Art and Society in the Renaissance” course came back to me in a flood! We lunched in St Peter’s Square and then headed into St Peter’s Basilica. We spent the whole afternoon in the Church! We explored from the crypts underneath (where I paid my respects to John Paul II) all the way to the top of the Dome! This church is MASSIVE! The views from the top were phenomenal! From the Vatican we wandered back to our hostel, stopping in “little” churches, shops, and piazzas along the way.
The next morning, Mary left us to return to St Andrews. Kat, Britt and I headed to the Piazza Navona for breakfast… and ended up sitting at the same café, at the same table through lunch! Ah, Rome! Later that afternoon we bid arrivederci to Roma, and boarded a plane for Geneva, Switzerland.
Katherine and I went to Geneva to attend the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference (SCSC). Brittany came along for the scenery and an opportunity to see the UN (she’s an International Relations major). The SCSC is usually held in the fall, in the States. But this 10 July marks the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth, so they moved the conference to the summer and to Geneva to celebrate! About 450 historians, literary scholars, and other academics came from all over the world to attend. I helped run the registration desk on Thursday morning (the first day of the conference) and worked with some really great post grads from other universities—Notre Dame, Penn State, Iowa, Cambridge, Munster, Zurich, Geneva; folks I plan to keep in touch with for a long time! I have a feeling we’ll be running into each other at conferences for the rest of our careers.
The Conference was amazing! Over the course of three days they had 157 sessions to choose from (consisting of about 3 papers each). My brother called it NerdFest 2009. He was right. And it was amazing! I got to rub elbows with some of the biggest names in my field.
But the really exciting thing was that I already knew most of them… because I see them on a regular basis at St Andrews! I always knew that St Andrews was a world-class institution, and that I have been blessed beyond measure to be earning two degrees there. But that was hammered home to me at the SCSC. At conferences of this nature, most people don’t really pay attention to the post grads. We haven’t made names for ourselves yet, because we’re just getting started. We’re nobodies. When I introduced myself to some of them, they kind of blew me off (like one individual, who had blown me off once before when I was applying to work on a PhD with them two years ago, at an American university which shall not be named). Conferences of this nature usually have more than their fair share of over-inflated egos and hot air. But for the most part, when I mentioned that I was at St Andrews, their ears perked up and suddenly I was a person of interest! St Andrews is one of the best (if not THE best) places in the world to study Reformation History.
Faculty members from my department were like rock stars at the conference. When other post grads found out where I study, they would sheepishly ask if I could introduce them to Andrew Pettegree or Bruce Gordon. (Bruce in particular was popular, as his highly anticipated biography of Calvin was scheduled for release two weeks later.) I was chatting with two post grads at the last evening reception when Andrew came over to ask if I had a ride from Edinburgh Airport to St Andrews for the next day. The two post grads’ eyes went wide. Andrew is a bit of a living legend, and here I was, talking with him about a taxi! About two seconds later, their jaws about dropped to the floor, because Bruce came over to joke with Andrew. I felt all professional, introducing these other post grads to Andrew and Bruce! Folks referred to them in hushed tones as Professor Pettegree or Professor Gordon. And I was thinking: “Its just Andrew. I’ve had dinner at his house and have ridden in cars with him. My office is next to his. And its just Bruce. I once helped disentangle his daughter’s hobby-horse from a radiator.”
Because the conference took up most of our time, Kat and I didn’t get to see much of the city of Geneva. We did take Friday afternoon off to explore a bit with Britt. And we usually ended up having dinner in the Old City in the evenings, with the other post grads and an academic or two. So I have some photos of Geneva in the slideshow, but not many. And unfortunately I didn’t think to take my camera with me to the conference, so there aren’t any pictures of my new, nerd-tastic friends.
I’ll just have to go back to Geneva. Aw, shucks. What a shame. ☺
All in all it was an AMAZING trip (as you can probably tell from my over-use of that word throughout this post)! And one of the best things about the whole thing is that the University of St Andrews paid for about a third of it! Because I was attending the conference, my PhD research allowance covered my airfare from Rome to Geneva, and Geneva to Edinburgh, my accommodation in Geneva, and a couple of meals at the conference hotel. Score! As stressful, nerve-wracking, and soul-sucking as postgraduate study can be, it certainly does have its perks!
Enjoy the photos!
[As always, if you want to see the slideshow photos in a large format, or would like to read the captions, just click on one of the pictures. It should take you to the photo album site I created the show on, where you can browse the pictures at your own pace.]
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Spring Fling
Spring has finally sprung in St Andrews! The darkness is fleeing. Flowers are blooming. Skies are clearing. The bitter cold is now more like a "chill". While I have spent most of this lovely spring buried under the Mountain of Books, I have managed to escape briefly every now and then. Below you'll find photos from my little diversions.
Spring 2009
Kate Kennedy Procession
(To view the photos at your own pace, and in more detail, just click on the slide show. It will take you to the site I made the show on.)
The first album has pictures from the installation of the new University Rector and a weekend trip to London, as well as photos of some new friends.
Every three years the student body elects a new Rector. The Rector, someone from outside of the University community, presides over the University Court (the supreme governing body of the University). Previous Rectors include J.M. Barrie (the author of Peter Pan), Rudyard Kipling (author of The Jungle Book), and John Cleese (from Monty Python). As with most of the University's activities, there are quirky traditions that accompany the March installation of the Rector including a candlelight procession and a carriage ride around town. The new Rector is Kevin Dunion, the head of Oxfam, an important charity in Britain.
At the end of March my housemate Mary and I took a quick trip to London. Mary had to sit an exam in the city on a Tuesday morning, so we went down the previous Friday. Mary had never been and since she is moving back to the States soon, we had to make the most of our time there. We ran all over that town! On Sunday we met up with Pete, a friend of mine from St. Andrews who lives in London. He took us to the Oxford v. Cambridge boat race on the Thames--the biggest inter-collegiate sporting event in Britain. It was a gorgeous day and a glorious way to spend it!
Since then, I have been spending a lot of time with my friend Heidi and her three children, Charlie (6), Jane (5), and Kendra (2). Heidi and her husband Jason are in my Bible Study group from church. They're from California and Jason is here working on a PhD in Theology. Heidi and I have been keeping each other sane!
The second album is from this Saturday's Kate Kennedy Procession. Every year the Kate Kennedy Club (KKC) hosts this rite of spring. Legend has it that the Procession dates back to the early 1400's, when Bishop Kennedy, founder of St. Salvator's College, brought his niece Kate to stay with him at the University. Needless to say, the young men of the University were smitten and hosted a procession in her honor. In the nineteenth century, the Victorians claimed that the procession was getting too rowdy and smacked too much of pagan spring festivals, so it was disbanded. But when J.M. Barrie was the Rector, the tradition of the Kate Kennedy Procession was revived. The members of the KKC--a club of rather posh young men who do a great deal of charity work--and their friends dress as important historical and local figures who have been associated with the University and the town. They go all out, with fancy costumes, horses and carriages, and even a fly-over by the Royal Air Force. The Procession winds it's way through town, while crowds gather along the route and traffic is held at bay for 2 hours. In the old days, all of the characters were played by men, including Mary Queen of Scots and Kate Kennedy herself. Now the procession includes men and women as participants, though that usually involves women dressed as men! But fair Kate is ALWAYS played by a male student; the most promising first-year member of the Club, who's responsibility it will be to organize the Procession next year.
On an academic note, I handed in my first 15000 words on Friday! It was a stressful week for me. I couldn't have survived without the aid of my friends, the support of my family (which included calling my Dad at 3am a couple of times!), and God's help. Somehow I managed to squeeze out the necessary work for my One Year Review (even though it has only been 6 months!). Now I'm going to be working on a paper I hope to present at a conference in York (England, NOT Pennsylvania) in July. Oh! And I'm going to a conference in Geneva, Switzerland at the end of May! The Sixteenth Century Society is celebrating John Calvin's 500th Birthday. I'm finally starting to feel like an academic!
Spring 2009
Kate Kennedy Procession
(To view the photos at your own pace, and in more detail, just click on the slide show. It will take you to the site I made the show on.)
Friday, 10 April 2009
Good Friday
The following excerpt is from the play Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estatis, one of the primary sources I am using for my PhD thesis. Written in 1552 by Scottish courtier Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, I thought it was fitting for Good Friday. (Above the line is the passage in updated English, below the line you'll find the sixteenth-century Scots.)
And where one drop of His most precious blood
Was recompence sufficient and suitable
A thousand worlds to ransom from that mad
Infernal Fiend, Satan, notwithstanding
He loved us so that for our ransoming
He shed forth all the blood of His body,
Riven, rent and sore wounded where He did hang,
Nailed on the Cross on the Mount Calvary.
______________________________________
Betwix twa theifs in Croce He yeild the spreit,
And quhair an drop of His maist precious blude
Was recompence sufficient and condingAne thowsand warlds to ransoun from that wod
Infernall Feind, Sathan, notwithstanding
He luifit us sa that for our ransoning
He sched furth all the blude of His bodie,
Riven, rent and sair wondit quhair He did hing,
Naild on the Croce on the Mont Calvary.*
*Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estatis, 1552. Lines 3498-3506.**Matthias Grunewald, The Isenheim Altarpiece, 1516.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Buried Under a Mountain of Books
No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth! But I have been buried under a mountain of books!
everyone else is working on. It is usually a lot of fun, and quite relaxed, but I was extremely nervous about the whole ordeal. The head of the Institute published a book on my topic about three years ago, though he focused on the European reformations as a whole and barely even mentioned Scotland (and my topic is exclusively Scottish). But he wrote the book. And he would be there. Plus I didn't want to look like a moron in front of all of my lecturers, professors, and classmates. But I needn't have worried myself sick, as God answered my frantic prayers and the presentation went smoothly! All of the feedback I received was positive, including a very nice complement from the head of the Institute. And he doesn't complement freely, so I have been told. You could have knocked me over with a feather.
In addition to the Reading Weekend Paper, I have been working on the 15,000 words (about 50 pages) due for my Progress Review on April 15th. 5,000 are to be methodological and historiographic. Blah. "Historiography" is a fancy word for the history of how History is written. So I basically have to explain what has been written by other scholars about my thesis topic and how I'm going to be different. Then I have to write about exactly how I'm going to go about accomplishing that: what kind of sources am I going to look at (sermons, ballads, hymns, plays, poems, letters, etc) and how I will interpret them, how the thesis will be organized, what some of the potential chapters might be about, etc. Basically I have to justify my existence as a scholar in 15 pages. THEN I have to write a 10,000 word sample chapter, analyzing a set of sources and addressing questions that my thesis as a whole will address. Whew.
The frustrating bit is that due to the changeful nature of research, there is no guarantee that any of these 15,000 words will end up counting as part of my final 80,000! I could find something in my sources next year that disproves all of my work from this year. Or someone at another university could beat me to it, and publish a similar study before I do. And then I'd have to completely change my angle and approach, if not the entire topic! I had two friends who had to do this last semester. Andy opened a book and discovered that the author had already done what Andy had hoped to do. He beat him to it by 2 years. And my friend Katherine was reading a thesis finished last year at another university, and found that the writer had written on exactly what she was going to write on. So we'll just have to see what happens these next 2 1/2 years.
Contrary to what many people might think, History is NOT unchanging or set in stone. Its not black and white, or even sephia-toned. Its technicolored, multi-faceted, constantly shifting, and often full of gaping holes. If 25 people witness an event, there are 25 different perspectives (think about the investigation following JFK's assassination). So when 25,000 people experience a battle or a plague, or a coronation, there are 25,000 different views of that event. And it is impossible to get all 25,000 stories. Even if you could get all of the witnesses accounts, any lawyer can tell you that you can't always believe the testimony of a witness!
All we as historians have to go on are the documents and scraps of paper left behind that survive the centuries. And even then, those scraps are subject to change. How events played out could be confirmed by the available sources and be accepted as "what really happened" for decades, and even centuries. And then, a letter or diary that disproves it all could be found in an old trunk in someone's attic in Ohio.
In addition to the sources, there is the changeful nature of the historical profession to consider. During different time periods, those writing about an event may only find a handful of the existing/surviving stories to be worth telling. For example, in the early part of the 20th century it was historically fashionable to only tell the story of the Battle of Gettysburg from the perspective of the elite: the officers. Then, around the 1940s and 50s, with such a large percentage of the population having been immediately affected by WWII it became fashionable to tell the story of Gettysburg from the perspectives of the soldiers in the trenches: the farmer/cobbler/factory worker-turned-soldier. Then in the 60s and 70s, as the present was caught up in the Civil Rights movement, it was time to tell the stories of the African Americans and other minorities who fought in that battle. And by the 1980s, as women were demanding equality in the workforce, we were hearing about the women who operated make-shift hospitals and cared for the wounded in the midsts of and on the fringes of the battle, or those who dressed as soldiers and fought themselves.
Upon my return from Prague I had to prepare a 20 minute paper on my thesis topic (Propaganda, Persuasion, and Public Opinion in the Scottish Reformation: Or how the Protestants convinced people to stop being Catholic in Sixteenth-Century Scotland) for the Reading Weekend at the end of February. Reading Weekend is an annual event when all the faculty and postgrads from the University's Reformation History department go off to a hotel the Highlands for a semi-informal conference. Its an opportunity for folks to get to know each other better and for people to share about their latest research, so everyone knows what
everyone else is working on. It is usually a lot of fun, and quite relaxed, but I was extremely nervous about the whole ordeal. The head of the Institute published a book on my topic about three years ago, though he focused on the European reformations as a whole and barely even mentioned Scotland (and my topic is exclusively Scottish). But he wrote the book. And he would be there. Plus I didn't want to look like a moron in front of all of my lecturers, professors, and classmates. But I needn't have worried myself sick, as God answered my frantic prayers and the presentation went smoothly! All of the feedback I received was positive, including a very nice complement from the head of the Institute. And he doesn't complement freely, so I have been told. You could have knocked me over with a feather.In addition to the Reading Weekend Paper, I have been working on the 15,000 words (about 50 pages) due for my Progress Review on April 15th. 5,000 are to be methodological and historiographic. Blah. "Historiography" is a fancy word for the history of how History is written. So I basically have to explain what has been written by other scholars about my thesis topic and how I'm going to be different. Then I have to write about exactly how I'm going to go about accomplishing that: what kind of sources am I going to look at (sermons, ballads, hymns, plays, poems, letters, etc) and how I will interpret them, how the thesis will be organized, what some of the potential chapters might be about, etc. Basically I have to justify my existence as a scholar in 15 pages. THEN I have to write a 10,000 word sample chapter, analyzing a set of sources and addressing questions that my thesis as a whole will address. Whew.
The frustrating bit is that due to the changeful nature of research, there is no guarantee that any of these 15,000 words will end up counting as part of my final 80,000! I could find something in my sources next year that disproves all of my work from this year. Or someone at another university could beat me to it, and publish a similar study before I do. And then I'd have to completely change my angle and approach, if not the entire topic! I had two friends who had to do this last semester. Andy opened a book and discovered that the author had already done what Andy had hoped to do. He beat him to it by 2 years. And my friend Katherine was reading a thesis finished last year at another university, and found that the writer had written on exactly what she was going to write on. So we'll just have to see what happens these next 2 1/2 years.
Contrary to what many people might think, History is NOT unchanging or set in stone. Its not black and white, or even sephia-toned. Its technicolored, multi-faceted, constantly shifting, and often full of gaping holes. If 25 people witness an event, there are 25 different perspectives (think about the investigation following JFK's assassination). So when 25,000 people experience a battle or a plague, or a coronation, there are 25,000 different views of that event. And it is impossible to get all 25,000 stories. Even if you could get all of the witnesses accounts, any lawyer can tell you that you can't always believe the testimony of a witness!
All we as historians have to go on are the documents and scraps of paper left behind that survive the centuries. And even then, those scraps are subject to change. How events played out could be confirmed by the available sources and be accepted as "what really happened" for decades, and even centuries. And then, a letter or diary that disproves it all could be found in an old trunk in someone's attic in Ohio.
In addition to the sources, there is the changeful nature of the historical profession to consider. During different time periods, those writing about an event may only find a handful of the existing/surviving stories to be worth telling. For example, in the early part of the 20th century it was historically fashionable to only tell the story of the Battle of Gettysburg from the perspective of the elite: the officers. Then, around the 1940s and 50s, with such a large percentage of the population having been immediately affected by WWII it became fashionable to tell the story of Gettysburg from the perspectives of the soldiers in the trenches: the farmer/cobbler/factory worker-turned-soldier. Then in the 60s and 70s, as the present was caught up in the Civil Rights movement, it was time to tell the stories of the African Americans and other minorities who fought in that battle. And by the 1980s, as women were demanding equality in the workforce, we were hearing about the women who operated make-shift hospitals and cared for the wounded in the midsts of and on the fringes of the battle, or those who dressed as soldiers and fought themselves.
The ways which each generation of historians experience their own present affects how they view and interpret the past. And over time, those gathered interpretations form a more complete picture of the past, albeit a mosaic with large sections of tiles still missing. Now I just have to figure out where I fit in. Preferably before April 15th.
Sunday, 8 February 2009
The Adventures Continue: Prague
After a long hiatus at home (and from blogging!)--almost a month and a half--I returned to Scotland on January 21st. But not for long! A week after arriving in St. Andrews, I headed off to Prague to visit my friend Lucie for a week... my last week of relaxation and leisure before hitting the books for the next 2 and a half years!
PS: I can't figure out how to make the slideshow move any slower! But if you just click on one of the pictures in the show, it should take you to the Picassa Webpage that I created the show on. From there you should be able to look at the pictures at your own pace! AND the pictures show up much bigger! So you can see more details!
Lucie and I met while working on Masters degrees at UMBC. She's from the Czech Republic and her parents live in Prague (or Praha, as its spelled in Czech). It was fantastic! The best way to see a city is to see it with a native. I told Lucie that I would follow wherever she led! And she led me ALL over town! After the first four days we were both exhausted, but we had seen so much! And the food! Oh, the food! Lucie's mom filled me with so much good Czech food, I might not have to eat for a month! Lucie and her family were amazing hosts! I felt so at home! Thank you so much! Dekuji!
What a beautiful city. I think I'm in love! Architecturally, the centuries have been very kind to Prague, particularly the 14th, 19th, and very, very early 20th. It is a jewel-box of treasures: historical and cultural. Jan Hus, the very first martyr of the Reformation, spent most of his career as a theologian there. Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni" premiered there. Charles IV, the Emperor, made it the center of his empire. I would spend this entire blog gushing about my new city love-affair... but you don't want to hear me get mushy, you want to see pictures! So without further ado, here they are! Enjoy!
PS: I can't figure out how to make the slideshow move any slower! But if you just click on one of the pictures in the show, it should take you to the Picassa Webpage that I created the show on. From there you should be able to look at the pictures at your own pace! AND the pictures show up much bigger! So you can see more details!
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