Derrida

I've thought this about Derrida and other literary theorists for a while, but didn't know someone said this about Socrates.

Meno: "Socrates, I used to hear before ever I met you that you do nothing but perplex yourself and other people. And now, it seems you are bewitching me--and dragging me and binding me completely with your spells, so that I have become saturated with perplexity. And if you will allow me to speak facetiously, you seem to me to resemble to a striking degree, both in appearance and in other respects, the flat electric ray that lives in the sea. For it numbs anyone who comes in contact with it, and you seem to have done something of the sort to me. For in truth, I feel a numbness both in my mind and on my lips, and I do not know what answer to make to you." (Plato's Meno 80 A)

It's funny--parts of it could be used in a love speech, too :).

Here's a thought.

(click title)

My class schedule

Is very much up in the air right now--as it almost always is at the beginning of the school year. I'm signed up for three classes so far, and on the wait list for four. I'm hoping to get into most of the ones I've requested, but Tuesday's the last add day. I feel like more of a humanities major than an English major. There are SO MANY books I haven't read--I'm ashamed to name them off. And I'd often rather take history or art classes than English classes. Not that I've taken that many history classes.

So, I have a couple of post-graduation ideas: probably grad school, but waiting at least semester first (and I'm not sure what to study yet--art education, journalism? go to seminary?). I feel like I should get another degree before studying something like art! So one thought is to work at a folk school (ie: the John C. Campbell Folk School--Hannah introduced me to it) as an RA and get to take classes for free, building my art portfolio. I could do this for a year or six months. Another idea is to go to Sweden and enroll in free classes as an undergraduate. AnOTHER more random idea is to teach English in Prague with Rebekah and John for six months--not building any kind of portfolio, but just feeling out teaching as a career. Here's another thought: working on organic farms all over Europe this summer, recieving free housing at each village I work in. That'd be sweet--plus, farming is a wonderful skill to have for an aspiring missionary in a third-world country. Oh--my "main" idea is to study at L'Abri next fall. I've been reading through Hannah's journals a little bit and growing in excitement over how much she learned there. Our plan is to type up every page of her journal and make a book of the things she learned there. Oh, one more really random idea is to become a nurse :). Africa needs AIDS workers...

Hm--what do you see me doing in 15 years?

This is pretty random, but awesome: Last night my friend Amy and I made dinner and YOGURT together! It was so exciting :). We just "almost" boiled milk and powdered milk mixed together, then stirred in 1/2 cup of plain yogurt and put our concoction in her yogurt maker to incubate over night. We woke up this morning and stirred in sweetened strawberries. It was so fresh and amazing. You can also make yogurt by putting the ingredients in a warm oven for four hours. Isn't that neat? I'm SUCH a NERD!

Road Trip!

Us at the "Gateway to the North," which is now in a parking lot :)

Amy and I officially decided to go ahead with the trip four days before we departed for North Bay, Ontario. I love last-minute decisions—they’re so final. You have to follow through with them. We’d wavered on whether or not to go to Canada and decided not to after a couple friends who were thinking of joining couldn’t come on the day we wanted to leave. But, after Christmas, I wondered what I’d be doing for the rest of the break. Sleeping in, hanging out with friends, an occasional productive day due to an early breakfast date. It didn’t sound incredibly appealing. So, I called Amy up and asked what her New Year’s plans were. She didn’t have any, like me. How about going to Canada? She got her mom to let us use her Suburu Outback (my favorite car now) and we headed up to Buffalo New Year’s Eve. We spent the night with Emily, a friend I met in Yellowstone, then drove through Toronto and up to North Bay New Year’s morning. The highways were quiet and we found ourselves driving 25 mph and taking pictures of a surreal, dying but beautiful Buffalo on the right with Lake Erie on our left.

Four-wheeling with Ian

We were pretty ecstatic when we crossed the Canadian border, except for the rude border crossing lady who said we couldn’t get our passports stamped. Oh well—so much for a great first impression of Canada. The drive from Toronto was beautiful. The word “bucolic” came to mind—one of those SAT prep words lodged in my subconscious. The opportunity to use it doesn’t arise every day. Amy and I were both a little nervous as we waited for Ian to meet us in the doughnut shop parking lot (BY THE WAY, North Bay has the highest per capita doughnut shops in the world!). It had been a year and a half since I last saw him. I wondered if we’d get along like we had in South Africa, when we were the outsiders in a foreign place. I also wondered what his parents thought of two girls driving seventeen hours to see their son. We weren’t trying to sabotage his relationship with Kristina by any means! Being an outsider can be nerve-racking, but our fears were assuaged when we met his warm, funny family, who welcomed us with open arms.

Amy and me lying on the glass floor of the CN Tower

To make a long story short, Ian did and excellent job introducing us to Canadian culture. I tried a whistle dog (a hot dog split in half with bacon and cheese—not bad!), Amy and I both tried a poutine (french fries drenched in gravy with cheese curds on top—super unhealthy, but delicious), bought some clothes at Roots (kind of an outdoorsey Gap in Canada), cross-country skied, played ice-hockey, “snow-shoed” (ha—just long enough to take a picture, and in only two inches of snow), four-wheeled in the snow, hung out in Ian’s hot tub, ate Canadian chocolate bars, went to “the Moose,” a bar in North Bay packed out on a Wednesday night, and stayed up late hanging out with Ian. We drove Ian to Toronto on the fourth and took the subway into town to go up the CN tower, the tallest free-standing structure in the world. (We also met some pretty creepy characters on the subway, but that’s another story.) Walking on the glass floor of the tower and seeing the tiny play city below us was definitely unnerving. We got dinner and said our goodbyes to Ian, who would stay with his grandma in Toronto before flying out the next day.

The girls at Niagra

Amy and I spent the next two nights back in Buffalo with Emily and company. Our other Yellowstone friend Lindsay got a one-way ticket to Buffalo just to see us, so we had a lovely time remembering our days from the summer, wishing Pete and Joy were there to join us. We hit up Niagra Falls, walked from the American side to the Canadian side, which I agree is prettier, and got our passports stamped on the way over! That lady at the border was lying to us! Amy and I were delighted.

We left Buffalo at 6:30 the next morning, dropping Lindsay off in Baltimore and finishing off the trip with just the Amy and me. We started a cheesy Tom Clancy novel after Baltimore but stopped early to listen to Cake and fun Memphis mixes. Amy and I each ended up spending $100 for the whole trip, plus money for food here and there. Surprisingly, a very doable trip! Even for poor college students. If you haven’t taken a road trip, do it. Call me—I’ll probably come along.

Ian and me on the subway