Some exciting things

It's been about a month since I landed in Aberdeen!

A few exciting things have happened since I blogged last. Here they are in increasing excitement levels:

I wrote a paper on the Trinity. It was a 500 word response, and was one of the most frustrating things I have written in the two and a half years I've been in religion classes.

At the natural foods store, I bought non-British tea. Lots of it. I'm not really sure what all the hype is around tea here, because like almost everything else here, the rest of the world does it better. The last week and a half has also seen the mysterious disappearance of my coffee mug and its miraculous return.  I've also been eating so...much...rice. In addition to non-British tea, I also bought some African soup (I had this crazy craving for peanut butter soup), and a couple Indian curries. Before you ask, no, I haven't braved the haggis or black pudding.

I have started giving myself 10 extra minutes to walk to campus in the morning so I can detour and walk along the River Don to the west of the park. The sun is supposed to be out this week, so pictures to come soon.

The thesis statements for two of my three big term papers are sort of set...something about an analysis of Constantine v. Ashoka for Buddhism and a short survey of the resurrection from an orthodox perspective (with a second section on new readings of the resurrection story in light of radical suffering) for my doctrine class. I haven't exactly made friends in those discussion tutorials. Students in those classes aren't big on questioning the opinions of the authors - something I learned in the awkward silence that followed my somewhat forceful contradiction of someone's opinion on sin. I regularly wonder if my Rhodes professors would laugh if they saw video recordings of my class discussions, and sincerely hope they do in storytelling debriefs during office hours in the fall.

I've seen some familiar faces on Skype! I caught my sister on FaceTime just as she was leaving Cafe Eclectic, so I got the iPhone tour of the restaurant and the short trip back to campus. It was good to see all of the familiar art and brightly colored walls. I thought about the ridiculous number of cups of Citrus Spice tea I'm going to drink and the wonderful people I'll run into there in just a few months (I'm looking at you St. John's!).

Spring/Easter break is coming together in little bits. The trip to Iona Abbey for Holy Week is more official. I'm "penciled in" and need to start figuring out how in the world I'm going to get there (it involves a train, a bus and at least one ferry).

That's about it! Miss you all.

Womanism, with Love.

The lecture I have on Mondays and Thursdays on "basic Christian doctrine" has been getting a little bit too...

I don't have a good word. Dry? Boring?? It needs a little life. So far, I'm getting a picture of a Godhead that's so full of rules I'm surprised He (God is always male in this class) can move at all. Don't get me wrong. It's interesting. I think I've just been spoiled by the Rhodes faculty.

After a powerful, but very cold and dreary Ash Wednesday, the sun came out this morning. It was as though it was trying to apologize for disappearing on such a sad day. Everything woke up a little, and I even heard a non-seagull bird chirp! Inspired by the drying cobblestones and blue sky, I'm bringing out one of my favorite bits of doctrine. On a day like today, cold, lifeless theology couldn't have the last word.

I heard Alice Walker's definition of a Womanist for the first time two years ago, and immediately fell in love with it - with the language and prose, the honesty and the truth.  I also fell in love with the tension it brought. Understanding and identifying with feminist theology wasn't difficult. Womanism required wrestling, questioning, and invited a hungry curiosity. And finally, I fell in love with the love - the love for God, for others, male and female, of any color, the love for creation, and the deep love of self. 

Some of you have heard me talk about "theology like jazz" or "doctrine that tastes like honey." This is where I found it first (especially in her third section). I can think of no better way to honor this day celebrating all things love than remembering Walker's words. Enjoy! 

WOMANIST
1. From womanish. (Opp. of “girlish,” i.e. frivolous, irresponsible, not serious.) A black feminist or feminist of color. From the black folk expression of mothers to female children, “you acting womanish,” i.e., like a woman. Usually referring to outrageous, audacious, courageous or willful behavior. Wanting to know more and in greater depth than is considered “good” for one. Interested in grown up doings. Acting grown up. Being grown up. Interchangeable with another black folk expression: “You trying to be grown.” Responsible. In charge. Serious.

2. Also: A woman who loves other women, sexually and/or nonsexually. Appreciates and prefers women’s culture, women’s emotional flexibility (values tears as natural counterbalance of laughter), and women’s strength. Sometimes loves individual men, sexually and/or nonsexually. Committed to survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female. Not a separatist, except periodically, for health. Traditionally a universalist, as in: “Mama, why are we brown, pink, and yellow, and our cousins are white, beige and black?” Ans. “Well, you know the colored race is just like a flower garden, with every color flower represented.” Traditionally capable, as in: “Mama, I’m walking to Canada and I’m taking you and a bunch of other slaves with me.” Reply: “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

3. Loves music. Loves dance. Loves the moon. Loves the Spirit. Loves love and food and roundness. Loves struggle. Loves the Folk. Loves herself. Regardless.

4. Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender.

Happy Valentine's-Arizona Statehood Day!

On Kale and Mystery Broth

I had somewhat of a food love affair last summer, eating as much local food as I could, finding the right balance of what I should and shouldn't eat to keep my body healthy. Going into this "redefining my diet" season, I knew that I didn't ever want to sacrifice flavor when looking for healthy alternatives.

If it didn't taste good, nature almost always had an alternate way to get the same vitamins. Eventually though, I would come around to the foods I thought were awful as I learned about how unbelievable they were. Kale was one of those foods. I still haven't figured out how to cook it well, but I was finally convinced to put it in my breakfast smoothies. Sarah Britton is a Holistic Nutritionist, and a fantastic health food blogger. Here's what convinced me to give kale another try:

First of all, it packs more nutritional punch per calorie than almost any other food on the planet. Seriously. It is crazy-loaded with vitamin K, an essential vitamin for preventing bone fractures, postmenopausal bone loss, calcification of your arteries, and has even been shown to protect against liver and prostate cancer. And because kale is a member of the brassica family (think broccoli, cabbage, collards, and Brussels sprouts) it contains the organosulfur compounds that appear able to lessen the occurrence of a wide variety of cancers, including breast and ovarian cancers. Kale is also excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B6 and manganese. It is also a very good source of dietary fiber, calcium, copper, vitamin B6, and potassium. This combination of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients makes kale a health superstar, for real.

This woman knows her food.

With less time to cook my own food last semester, I fell out of love with my food again, though I kept setting aside recipes for a day I caught a break and could jump back into the kitchen.

Well, I've finally caught a break. In fact, I have more break than anything else.

Sadly, I haven't done a lot of cooking. Every time I walk in the kitchen, the pots, pans, and burners are occupied with the mysterious food of my flatmates. I went to get a bowl of grapes this afternoon and stumbled upon two chicken legs soaking in water and a fascinating pot of yellow liquid. Among the other interesting things I've learned in the last couple of weeks, I've found that nothing kills my appetite like unattended soaking chicken legs in the kitchen.

Which brings me to a new project. I don't know what it is, but bad soup is following me. From the white liquid at dinner with the monks in Three Rivers, to the recent appearance of yellow sludge in my kitchen, to the Scottish winter staple of lentil broth/soup, bad soup is everywhere, and begging for a makeover.

I started tonight with brown rice/red lentil curry - soon with vegetables and broth (as soon as I go to the grocery store...).

If you have any student-friendly (simple and vegetarian), tasty soup recipes, send them this way.

Until then!

Pep Talks and Chocolate

I was a pretty slow weekend, but I did get to talk with Hannah Kate and with JP! I have an insane amount of free time, and would love to talk to all of you.

It's supposed to flux between rain and snow all week. The wind was a force to be reckoned with today, especially in any alleyways running East-West (all of them).

Having had a short night of sleep behind me, a full day of classes ahead of me, and more cold weather than this desert-dweller knows what to do with, I decided the day would need to start off with 1) something magnificent, and 2) good, quiet, reflective space. Obviously, chocolate and laughter are the ultimate day-redeemers (sorry for sounding like an inspirational candy wrapper...). If you're not one of the almost 8 million people who have seen this video, watch it. This is how I started my Monday:

I got ready quickly and made the short trek to campus through Seaton Park. I had an hour and fifteen minutes to kill before my first class, so I wandered into a bakery on High Street. I broke my no-dairy rule and bought hot chocolate, because sometimes, weather is just too cold and too miserable to follow rules.

It was delicious. I spent the remaining hour in the King's College Chapel, just sitting, staring at the stained glass, wishing I could read Latin.

I made it to my classes, and even befriended a first-year student in my doctrine class. Reading for that class on Trinity, commentaries on Luke-Acts for another class, and annotating a book for next summer on Incarnation is constant theological whiplash: frustrated with the first, bored with the second, and mind-blown by the third. I'd been nervous about saying things that were out of line with his interpretations during our upcoming discussions, but since most of the other students seem to be sleeping through the lecture, that classroom is in for a tornado of Womanist theology next Friday morning.

After some quality time with a stack of commentaries and introductions to Luke-Acts in the library, I walked home listening to my new favorite:

And when I got here, the first of a few packages from Amazon was waiting at my door! It was almost better than chocolate. 

Almost.