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.

I got back late last night after the usual 12 hour drive. Thankfully, while long it was uneventful and the weather was, for the most part, clear.

I’m doing my best to get back into the swing of things after wonderful and relaxing visits with friends and family. Thankfully, the University is doing it’s best to immediately reintroduce me to stress. I just found out that one of my course’s focus has been shifted. I’m not completely sure if this new direction, focusing on social reaction to tragedy, is going to work for my research. So I’m in the midst of researching other classes.

The beginning of this week was really tough. I lost all perspective on things and had sunk into a bit of a depression. I still liked the program, but I just felt like I couldn’t make it to the end of the quarter. It seemed like my performance was slipping. I wasn’t absorbing the readings and my last ethnography was a disaster. Or the later description there was more than a bit of hyperbole. Mediocre would be a better description of my participant observation. Ironically I had made some good progress on my thesis. But all and all I was feeling l-o-w. I just wanted to come down, like some junkie cosmonaut… what happened to Cracker anyway?

Finally I realized that what I needed was to take a night off and not feel bad about it. Up until that point, if I allowed myself to get distracted from things I would get ticked at myself and not let go of that frustration. I think that’s been my main problem. So for the moment I’m beyond that. Last night I went home and cleaned and organized my apartment. I feel so much better.

IRB

Sucks. Institutional Review Board. Just because some medical researchers had to go off and conduct immoral experiments on unwitting participants, I need to get what feels like fifteen bazillion releases before I can talk to someone. Double that amount if the person is pregnant. And its frustrating. I blame you for this foodgoat (only one reader of this blog will get that inside reference).

A recent interviewee for a possible thesis topic requested anonymity. Now I’m not sure how much, if at any, I’m able to talk about that interview. Ugghhh! And I really need to beat on the topic and the interview with people to decide if there is something there. Grrrr.

I’m trying to type up and ethnography of a meal that I conducted last night. And it’s like pulling teeth. Grrr… this shouldn’t be so hard. The problem is nothing really happened. Which is to be expected as life isn’t always dramatic. Argueably this is one of the many things that sparates journalism from anthropology. However, you still in the back of your mind hope for an “ah ha” moment where you reach some deep and resounding understanding of the universe. That just didn’t happen.

As to where did we go for dinner? Check it out:

Chinatown! And it was really yummy. Unfortunately I can’t disclose who went with me because of Institutional Review Board issues. Because of releases I have to secure for my class I have to protect their identities.

Speaking of identities, you might not recognize me. Since returning from my short trip to Rocester a few weeks ago I haven’t shaved. Heck folks are luck I’ve been showering with my current work load. So here is my current look. The beard is going bye-bye tomorrow.

Scary huh?