A change in life calls for a change in blog...
You can find me now residing in cyberspace at
Let It Be Lindsey
If you're feeling nostalgic, check out "Best of Lindsey In Lawrence". Otherwise, update your blogrolls/readers and I'll see you there!
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Leaping Off the Boundary
"...We are challenged to Realize our participation in Be-ing in the Widest, Wildest Sense. This happens when we confront and transform the specific circumstances in which we find ourSelves" - Mary Daly
First of all let me start by saying this is not another April Fool's joke. I promise I'm not crying wolf; that will have to wait for another 11 months. ;-)
Our story starts back on the morning of February 8, 2008. I woke up that morning horribly dissatisfied with where I was and the direction things were heading. Partially in a desperate attempt to save a quickly sinking long distance relationship and partially to try and find a graduate program where I could focus on the things I wanted to focus on, I called up the graduate director at Missouri State University in Springfield.
One week later, I found myself (sans the relationship) in Springfield in the office of Dr. Mark Given. I left my meeting with him absolutely elated about the prospect of joining the program. The classes they offer and the faculty's area of expertise were right up my alley, not to mention how surprised I was when the director of the whole Religious Studies program actually knew my name and that I was currently at KU!
I found out over the next few weeks that not only was I accepted to the Religious Studies program, but I had also won a competitive, full-ride graduate assistantship. I sat on all this for a few weeks, revealing a little bit of my secret here and there before finally telling my parents in March.
My lease here in Lawrence is up at the end of May, so June will find me moving to Springfield to share an apartment with my old/new roomie Veronica! And just in case you were worried that the Pier 1 pirate adventures on my blog might be coming to an end, you can relax...I'll be transferring to the one in Springfield.
August will find me beginning my job as a GA at MSU, working with Martha Finch and her two Religion in America sections. Words can't even describe how excited I am to start!
I don't regret my time here at KU, as I've made some great friends, met some interesting characters and learned plenty of lessons. Moving back to Springfield will be an interesting experience in and of itself, but I look forward to reconnecting with old friends and making plenty of new ones. I feel really good about everything going on in my life right now, and I'm very excited to see where this new adventure takes me.
Since "Lindsey in Lawrence" won't really be applicable any more, I'm switching to a new blog. If you'd like to follow along with my new journey you can join me shortly at-
http://letitbelindsey.blogspot.com
Thank you to everyone who has supported me in this endeavor, especially all my girlfriends...I am so grateful and thankful for you all!
"So if you care to find me, look to the western sky!
As someone told me lately: "Ev'ryone deserves the chance to fly!"
And if I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free.
To those who'd ground me, take a message back from me:
Tell them how I am defying gravity! " -Wicked
First of all let me start by saying this is not another April Fool's joke. I promise I'm not crying wolf; that will have to wait for another 11 months. ;-)
Our story starts back on the morning of February 8, 2008. I woke up that morning horribly dissatisfied with where I was and the direction things were heading. Partially in a desperate attempt to save a quickly sinking long distance relationship and partially to try and find a graduate program where I could focus on the things I wanted to focus on, I called up the graduate director at Missouri State University in Springfield.
One week later, I found myself (sans the relationship) in Springfield in the office of Dr. Mark Given. I left my meeting with him absolutely elated about the prospect of joining the program. The classes they offer and the faculty's area of expertise were right up my alley, not to mention how surprised I was when the director of the whole Religious Studies program actually knew my name and that I was currently at KU!
I found out over the next few weeks that not only was I accepted to the Religious Studies program, but I had also won a competitive, full-ride graduate assistantship. I sat on all this for a few weeks, revealing a little bit of my secret here and there before finally telling my parents in March.
My lease here in Lawrence is up at the end of May, so June will find me moving to Springfield to share an apartment with my old/new roomie Veronica! And just in case you were worried that the Pier 1 pirate adventures on my blog might be coming to an end, you can relax...I'll be transferring to the one in Springfield.
August will find me beginning my job as a GA at MSU, working with Martha Finch and her two Religion in America sections. Words can't even describe how excited I am to start!
I don't regret my time here at KU, as I've made some great friends, met some interesting characters and learned plenty of lessons. Moving back to Springfield will be an interesting experience in and of itself, but I look forward to reconnecting with old friends and making plenty of new ones. I feel really good about everything going on in my life right now, and I'm very excited to see where this new adventure takes me.
Since "Lindsey in Lawrence" won't really be applicable any more, I'm switching to a new blog. If you'd like to follow along with my new journey you can join me shortly at-
http://letitbelindsey.blogspot.com
Thank you to everyone who has supported me in this endeavor, especially all my girlfriends...I am so grateful and thankful for you all!
"So if you care to find me, look to the western sky!
As someone told me lately: "Ev'ryone deserves the chance to fly!"
And if I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free.
To those who'd ground me, take a message back from me:
Tell them how I am defying gravity! " -Wicked
Monday, April 28, 2008
Fourth of July
When in the course of scholastic events it becomes necessary for one person to dissolve the academic bands which have connected them with an educational institution and to assume among the powers of the earth, the enrollment in a separate and equal program to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation…
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all students are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of a full ride. Whenever any Form of Educational Institution becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to leave or to transfer from it, and to attend new a Educational Institution.
The history of the present Religious Studies Department of The University of Kansas is a history of repeated ignorance and with-holdance of funds, all having in direct object the establishment of absolute academic misery over this student. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
They have refused to learn the name of this particular student, forcing Lindsey to introduce herself to her advisor on at least three separate occasions.
They have refused to offer any substantial financial aid, failing to acknowledge the ability of Lindsey to be a successful GTA.
They have neglected to offer the sorts of classes that will allow Lindsey to receive the education she feels will fully prepare her for her desired career.
They have attracted and retained a group of graduate students lacking in diversity of belief, worldview and opinions.
They have established their Educational Institution in a town full of dread-locked hippies that reek of patchouli. Ew..just kidding! I love hippies!
In every stage of these Oppressions Lindsey has Petitioned for acknowledgment and applied for GTA positions in the most humble terms: Her repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. An Educational Institution, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define it as not worth Lindsey’s time, is unfit to be the school she attends.
I, Lindsey, therefore solemnly publish and declare, that I will no longer be attending the University of Kansas. Instead, next semester will find me holding a full-ride Graduate Assistant position at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, I pledge to do my best to better my Life, Fortune and sacred Honor.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all students are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of a full ride. Whenever any Form of Educational Institution becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to leave or to transfer from it, and to attend new a Educational Institution.
The history of the present Religious Studies Department of The University of Kansas is a history of repeated ignorance and with-holdance of funds, all having in direct object the establishment of absolute academic misery over this student. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
They have refused to learn the name of this particular student, forcing Lindsey to introduce herself to her advisor on at least three separate occasions.
They have refused to offer any substantial financial aid, failing to acknowledge the ability of Lindsey to be a successful GTA.
They have neglected to offer the sorts of classes that will allow Lindsey to receive the education she feels will fully prepare her for her desired career.
They have attracted and retained a group of graduate students lacking in diversity of belief, worldview and opinions.
They have established their Educational Institution in a town full of dread-locked hippies that reek of patchouli. Ew..just kidding! I love hippies!
In every stage of these Oppressions Lindsey has Petitioned for acknowledgment and applied for GTA positions in the most humble terms: Her repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. An Educational Institution, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define it as not worth Lindsey’s time, is unfit to be the school she attends.
I, Lindsey, therefore solemnly publish and declare, that I will no longer be attending the University of Kansas. Instead, next semester will find me holding a full-ride Graduate Assistant position at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, I pledge to do my best to better my Life, Fortune and sacred Honor.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Best of Lindsey in Lawrence
Can you believe it? It's been almost a full year since I started this blog!
(It totally seems like it's been a whole lot longer!)
In honor of Lindsey in Lawrence's one year anniversary on Wednesday, I thought I'd do a "Best of" post. If there's something I neglect to put on the list but you, faithful reader, think should be on here, let me know.
Let's start at the very beginning...
It began with my "Spiritual Autobiography" project for my senior sem- my spiritual life set to Beatles music. From there we went mindfully to the dentist, and had some adventures in vegetarian cooking.
After a Holly-Go-Lightly moment on Mass. Street, I got materialistic at Pier 1 and survived my first sweltering day of graduate school.
We discussed Furries and Durkheim, I ventured into Second Life and got a little furry of my very own.
February proved a busy month- Hate mail to PETA, a public announcement of my distrust of robots and a fishy Fat Tuesday celebration. Then I got dumped and learned my lesson the hard way...but in the end I think it was all worth it.
A rash of photo-blogs ensued- Leia and I got our model on, I broke my Lenten sushi fast, got a good laugh out of past hairstyles and Kat and I had the type of day you journal about.
The mysterious entrance of the character known simply as "Shawn" brought with it plenty of fun "Operations" including, but not limited to- me pretending I know how to shave heads, late night puppetstravaganzas and a Saturday that came damn near close to perfect.
I finished out the year with a brilliant April Fool's joke, an experiment in live-blogging, some crazy dreams, and an even crazier trip to Springfield...
All in all it's been a pretty good year. Not everything went the way I planned, but that's life and I'm learning to love it. Thank you to all of you who stood by me, who laughed and cried with me, those of you who made guest appearances (and consequently became regulars) and all you who read those crazy long entries. You all are so wonderful!
This next year will bring some big changes and I'm very excited so please stay tuned!
(It totally seems like it's been a whole lot longer!)
In honor of Lindsey in Lawrence's one year anniversary on Wednesday, I thought I'd do a "Best of" post. If there's something I neglect to put on the list but you, faithful reader, think should be on here, let me know.
Let's start at the very beginning...
It began with my "Spiritual Autobiography" project for my senior sem- my spiritual life set to Beatles music. From there we went mindfully to the dentist, and had some adventures in vegetarian cooking.
After a Holly-Go-Lightly moment on Mass. Street, I got materialistic at Pier 1 and survived my first sweltering day of graduate school.
We discussed Furries and Durkheim, I ventured into Second Life and got a little furry of my very own.
February proved a busy month- Hate mail to PETA, a public announcement of my distrust of robots and a fishy Fat Tuesday celebration. Then I got dumped and learned my lesson the hard way...but in the end I think it was all worth it.
A rash of photo-blogs ensued- Leia and I got our model on, I broke my Lenten sushi fast, got a good laugh out of past hairstyles and Kat and I had the type of day you journal about.
The mysterious entrance of the character known simply as "Shawn" brought with it plenty of fun "Operations" including, but not limited to- me pretending I know how to shave heads, late night puppetstravaganzas and a Saturday that came damn near close to perfect.
I finished out the year with a brilliant April Fool's joke, an experiment in live-blogging, some crazy dreams, and an even crazier trip to Springfield...
All in all it's been a pretty good year. Not everything went the way I planned, but that's life and I'm learning to love it. Thank you to all of you who stood by me, who laughed and cried with me, those of you who made guest appearances (and consequently became regulars) and all you who read those crazy long entries. You all are so wonderful!
This next year will bring some big changes and I'm very excited so please stay tuned!
Saturday, April 26, 2008
What A Man, What A Man, What A Mighty Good Man...
I wore high heels and pearls to my Theories and Methods class Thursday night.
I was going out to see Shawn's improv show afterwards (which, by the way, was really fun!), so it only made sense.
But oh the irony- I wore high heels and pearls to class on the night that the subject was religion and gender roles. How perfect.
That night we were discussing a section from Howard Eilberg-Schwartz's book "God's Phallus and Other Problems for Men and Monotheism". Now I've spent a fair amount of time in Women's Studies classes, but I'd never really been exposed to the area of "Men's Studies", so this was fascinating for me.
Eilberg-Schwartz talks about the idea of a masculine monotheistic God as problematic for men in Judeo-Christian culture, because God becomes this sort of "ideal beauty image" that men must live up to, but can never quite achieve. Freud would see it as a "projection of the ideal" upwards, whereas feminists would call it "a reflection of the problematic real".
There is also the problem of homo-eroticism that comes from the marriage analogy used by the scriptures. If men are to be married to God they must become homosexual (which is not acceptable in a patriarchal context where being masculine means procreating) or they must become feminized to avoid the homo-eroticism. He also talks about how God must be veiled in order to solve this problem; unlike other religions (Hinduism, Greek and Roman gods) we never see God's genitalia.
Also, we see Jesus portraying more feminine traits- loving, nurturing, healing, but (to paraphrase Eilberg-Schwartz) in the end he's still a man, a dragon slayer who must go it alone.
Hmm...It's really just too hard for many to conceptualize a completely spiritualized God with no physical or at the very least anthropopathic/anthropomorphic existence. Did God create man in God's own image, or did man create God in his?
I'm currently and slowly gliding into a research paper on the radical feminist philosopher Mary Daly so it was interesting to discuss the other gender's side of the story. So often I think we ignore the fact that men are victims of the patriarchal society in some ways too. That's not to say they don't profit from it more than women, but that profiting comes at a price.
It's too late to really dig in to this stuff and you, my faithful reader, probably don't care all that much...but I'd love to hear any thoughts you do have.
I was going out to see Shawn's improv show afterwards (which, by the way, was really fun!), so it only made sense.
But oh the irony- I wore high heels and pearls to class on the night that the subject was religion and gender roles. How perfect.
That night we were discussing a section from Howard Eilberg-Schwartz's book "God's Phallus and Other Problems for Men and Monotheism". Now I've spent a fair amount of time in Women's Studies classes, but I'd never really been exposed to the area of "Men's Studies", so this was fascinating for me.
Eilberg-Schwartz talks about the idea of a masculine monotheistic God as problematic for men in Judeo-Christian culture, because God becomes this sort of "ideal beauty image" that men must live up to, but can never quite achieve. Freud would see it as a "projection of the ideal" upwards, whereas feminists would call it "a reflection of the problematic real".
There is also the problem of homo-eroticism that comes from the marriage analogy used by the scriptures. If men are to be married to God they must become homosexual (which is not acceptable in a patriarchal context where being masculine means procreating) or they must become feminized to avoid the homo-eroticism. He also talks about how God must be veiled in order to solve this problem; unlike other religions (Hinduism, Greek and Roman gods) we never see God's genitalia.
Also, we see Jesus portraying more feminine traits- loving, nurturing, healing, but (to paraphrase Eilberg-Schwartz) in the end he's still a man, a dragon slayer who must go it alone.
Hmm...It's really just too hard for many to conceptualize a completely spiritualized God with no physical or at the very least anthropopathic/anthropomorphic existence. Did God create man in God's own image, or did man create God in his?
I'm currently and slowly gliding into a research paper on the radical feminist philosopher Mary Daly so it was interesting to discuss the other gender's side of the story. So often I think we ignore the fact that men are victims of the patriarchal society in some ways too. That's not to say they don't profit from it more than women, but that profiting comes at a price.
It's too late to really dig in to this stuff and you, my faithful reader, probably don't care all that much...but I'd love to hear any thoughts you do have.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
I'm going to blame it on the full moon...
Dear Everyone,
I know you're having a rough week, we all are.
I got a parking ticket and dropped a shelf on my head yesterday. The weather was icky, stormy, and humid. Relationships are complicated. Neither of us slept well. (Insert your own complaint here) Whine whine whine whine.
Are you done? Good, because I'm tired of it.
Life is good, you're still breathing. Do something nice for yourself. Take a bath, take a walk, take some Valium. Hell, eat a tube of orange rolls like I did.
We're going to make it through this, just please stop taking it out on me.
Hugs and kisses,
Lindsey
I know you're having a rough week, we all are.
I got a parking ticket and dropped a shelf on my head yesterday. The weather was icky, stormy, and humid. Relationships are complicated. Neither of us slept well. (Insert your own complaint here) Whine whine whine whine.
Are you done? Good, because I'm tired of it.
Life is good, you're still breathing. Do something nice for yourself. Take a bath, take a walk, take some Valium. Hell, eat a tube of orange rolls like I did.
We're going to make it through this, just please stop taking it out on me.
Hugs and kisses,
Lindsey
Monday, April 21, 2008
Reaction Time
I used to feel a lot of anxiety about situations that seemed beyond my control. It was overwhelming. Recently, however, through the process of growing up and learning to relax, I've learned just how in control I really am.
Maybe I can't control what is going to happen to me when I step outside my door (especially when it involves other people) but there is one thing I can control- my reaction. It's been this strange liberating revelation for me- realizing that it's not what happens to me that matters, but how I react to it.
I can relax because I know I react well, with grace and class, to most situations. In the event of one where I won't react so well, I make sure that I communicate with the people around me if the situation can't be avoided.
This blog is a reaction to my life.
It's my choice to publicly react to the experiences of my life, both positive and negative.
Because it is so public, I'm also allowing you (my faithful reader/person who googled "Durkheim" or "strippers in Lawrence") to react to my experiences as well.
I value your reactions. I respect your reactions.
All I ask from you is that you do the same.
Thanks. =)
Maybe I can't control what is going to happen to me when I step outside my door (especially when it involves other people) but there is one thing I can control- my reaction. It's been this strange liberating revelation for me- realizing that it's not what happens to me that matters, but how I react to it.
I can relax because I know I react well, with grace and class, to most situations. In the event of one where I won't react so well, I make sure that I communicate with the people around me if the situation can't be avoided.
This blog is a reaction to my life.
It's my choice to publicly react to the experiences of my life, both positive and negative.
Because it is so public, I'm also allowing you (my faithful reader/person who googled "Durkheim" or "strippers in Lawrence") to react to my experiences as well.
I value your reactions. I respect your reactions.
All I ask from you is that you do the same.
Thanks. =)
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