I’ve set up a webcam again to help with researching my Thesis topic. The cam will only be live while I’m at the library and only available through Yahoo! Messenger.

The goal is not to use these experiences as a direct part of my thesis. Instead I’m trying the webcam to assist me in forming interview questions and exploration paths.

So if you’re interest in chatting with a hot, fully dressed, grad student at the library feel free to look me up: rockOn_Matt. I promise I won’t ever appear as a popup in your browser.

To begin to tell this sordid story of things that shouldn’t be seen, I need to first set the tone:

It’s cold here. Not necessarily super cold, like sub zero, but cold none the less.

Good, now that’s established, on to the story. I left the Reg a little before five today in hopes of catching a $1 latte at the Divinity School Coffee Shop. It’s a Friday tradition here at the U of C and one I take full advantage of whenever I can. On my walk through the first quad I notice something strange:

Lots of people lined up on either side of the quad, forming a corridor of sorts. I get a little further and notice this:

I can’t say whether it was NBC or Telemundo who had sent a camera crew to the U of C. Curious as to what might be going on I asked one of the people what was up. They said it was The Polar Bear Run.

“Polar Bear Run… What’s that?” I replied.

“Part of the Winterfest”

“Winter what?”

“Oh… You must be a grad student… HERE THEY COME”

And then they came:

Fifty or more students. Mainly male with a spattering of females in there. All running. All missing clothes. Some all of them… burr…

And the first thing that ran through my mind is: I need to blog about this… Cell Phone Camera, AWAY!

quick aside on ethics: the only reason I photographed this was because I knew that the camera wouldn’t have enough resolution to capture faces. Beyond that, this was clearly a public event and therefore the people waived a lot of their rights by participating. And besides, they’ll all be shown on Telemundo anyway.

So apparently, there’s a Winterfest going on. It’s the type of thing they don’t tell the grad students about )we’re too busy studying). And this Polar Bear thing has been going on since 1983.

Anyway… What can I say. I’m scarred. Especially after watching some of the people do somersaults. Let’s just put it this way… Cold weather is not a friend to the naked.

On the roadtrip from Chicago to Rochester I happened upon the NPR program Speaking of Faith and heard an interview with Martin Marty, a Lutheran theologian and an instructor here at the University of Chicago. As part of the interview he quoted Reinhold Niebuhr, a famed theologian and the writer of The Serenity Prayer. It’s been stuck in my head for a while and I thought I’d share. Thoughts? Reflections?

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope.

Nothing which is true, or beautiful, or good, makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must be saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, could be accomplished alone; therefore, we must be saved by love.

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our own standpoint; therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.

– Reinhold Niebuhr