For those who were interested in the Reinhold Niebuhr discussion that has been occuring on the topic I posted a few days ago, I managed to track down his work The Irony of American History from whence the quote came. I’m not going to get a chance to read it for a bit, but I thought those with time on their hands might be interested.

I’m psyched, this evening I’ll be going out for a Chicago Hot Dog at Superdawgs, which is on the other side of town. According to Zagat’s it’s one of the best dogs in the city. More on that tomorrow.

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

Things are a little hectic here in the windy city. Grr.

The temp has dropped from “cold” to “damn.” It’s our hope that it won’t go down to “fuck.” Needless to say, I’ve gotten soft. You would think after years of doing the quarter mile at RIT I’d be ready for the walk to campus. No such luck. However, word is that Rochester is getting buried with snow as I type this… so I will complain no further.

Classes are good. Here’s the official breakdown of my winter quarter:

Monday & Fridays – Reading and Thesis Work

Tuesdays & Thursdays:

Social Psychology

9.00am – 10.20am

This course examines social psychological theory and research based on both classic and contemporary contributions. Among the major topics examined are conformity and deviance, the attitude-change process, social role and personality, social cognition, and political psychology. J. Cacioppo, Winter.

Language in Culture II

11.30am – 1.20pm

This two-quarter course presents the major issues in linguistics of anthropological interest. Among topics discussed in the first half of the sequence are the formal structure of semiotic systems, the ethnographically crucial incorporation of linguistic forms into cultural systems, and the methods for empirical investigation of “functional” semiotic structure and history. The second half of the sequence takes up basic concepts in sociolinguistics and their critique, linguistic analysis of publics, performance and ritual, and language ideologies, among other topics. M. Silverstein, Autumn; S. Gal, Winter.

Rewriting the Past: Narrative, Ritual, and Monument.

1.30pm – 3.00pm

This course focuses on the manner in which we make use of the past, the personal past, and the collective past, as well as the place of social and historical change in retelling and rewriting life-history and history. We begin with a discussion of memory, conceptions of the personal and historic past, and such related issues as nostalgia, mourning, and the significance of commemoration in monument and ritual. We explore these issues in topics that include twentieth-century war memorials, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, high school and college reunions, the Holocaust’s representation in contemporary European society, the construction of the Israeli national tradition, and the construction of Abraham Lincoln as an American story of loss and renewal. B. Cohler, P. Homans. Winter, 2005. (B)

The Little Red Schoolhouse (Academic and Professional Writing).

3.00pm – 5.00pm Thursdays

This course teaches the skills needed to write clear and coherent expository prose and to edit the writing of others. The course consists of weekly lectures on Thursdays, immediately followed by tutorials addressing the issues in the lecture. On Tuesdays, students discuss short weekly papers in two-hour tutorials consisting of seven students and a tutor. Students may replace the last three papers with a longer paper and, with the consent of relevant faculty, write it in conjunction with another class or as part of the senior project. Materials fee $20. L. McEnerney, K. Cochran, T. Weiner. Winter, Spring.

Wednesdays:

Crowds and Publics

9.30am – 12.30pm

There isn’t currently a write up for this…

So thats about it for the moment. I’ll have more stuff tomorrow.