Small Things in a Big World

Today, I noticed another small thing that makes a big difference: one minute. Not long, right? barely long enough to post a sentence on facebook. Yet this past week of my life has been dominated by the actions a friend of mine did in a minute. He and his girlfriend had a wonderful relationship, marred only by the fact that they usually went weeks without seeing each other. But they loved each other, so it was alright. Then, in the space of a minute, he and a few comrades decided to walk to the local "party place." Needless to say, because of that minut, he got wasted. And, ah, did unmentionable deeds with a hitherto unnamed woman. Suprisingly, his girlfriend would have forgiven him, if he had not put on a "woe is me, I am unworthy" act that lasts to this day. I am unfortunately left to console the girl, berate the man, and in general, try to put Humpty back together again. Please, if you have a decision to make that could potentially lead to all the kings horses and all the kings men being dragged into it, take more than a minute to think on it. A permanent decision made in the blink of an eye, ridiculous as this may sound, is not well thought out.


On a more positive note, a minute can also lead to a particularly interesting game of chess. Yesterday, me and a friend were playing chess. He was new, so I went easy on him. Sadly, he hadn't told me that he was also an expert at checkers. It's not the same game, but there are several identical elements involved. I went easy for just a moment too long, and suddenly, almost all of my pieces were gone. I was distraught, but my moment of glory was nigh. Another person walked up, and asked my friend a few questions regarding a class that they were both in. In the moments that he was distracted, I rearanged several peices slightly. When he turned back, he discovered, to his dismay, that one of my pawns was a single turn from becoming queen, his king would soon be in check, and he had accidentally placed his queen in an area where it was almost certain to be caught by either my one remaining rook, or my king. I won spectacularly, and he never caught on. I proudly admitted that I cheated outrageously, just as he proudly taunted me with my perdicament.


Just remember, a single moment can lead to success or failure.

Latin: So Stressful

As a Latin student, I have to say, Latin is stressful. Hell, learning another language is stressful, and that’s counting when you’ve had at least some sort of interaction with the language before. Most people in my community have encountered some Spanish, in some way, shape or form, as they grow up. Whether its saying si for yes, or hola for goodbye. Bonita for beautiful, or uno for one. In French, most people know oui (Pronounced we) as yes, and merci as thank you. Other languages, whether you take them because of family heritage, or just personal choices, are more difficult, because they just are not said as much. But Latin as a language that is not spoken anymore, is even more difficult to learn.

Not only do you have to learn a new vocabulary, as you do in any foreign language, you have to memorize any and all declensions and conjugations. What I mean is, certain words belong to certain declensions, and thus follow certain rules. For example, the first declension mainly consists of verbs that a feminine. Laborat, meaning he/she/it works. The verb laborat is singular, and the plural form is laborant, only slightly different. If one wanted to say that we are working, one would say laboramus. Now, if we look at the second declension, you would find that the majority of verbs are masculine, while the rest are mostly neutered. The verb sedet means he/she/it sits. It is in its singular form, and the plural is sedent, a little different from the first declension, but enough to make it noticeable.

If all that isn’t stressful enough, you have to keep in mind that there are five declensions, each with ten cases(i.e. singular accusative, nominative, etc, and plural accusative, nominative, etc.) That means that I have to memorize 50 different conjugations/cases for Latin, not to mention any irregular verbs. See what I mean?

Berea Lost: The Science of Faith

Fundamental questions about the interactions of science and religion can be found throughout the majority of history. Can they coexist or do I have to believe in either one or the other? Does this debate even matter? The truth is, around the world, and even here at Berea, most people have come up with a balance of the two subjects to use.

For example, the story of creation causes much debate between Christians and other religions like Atheists and Scientologists. Most Christians believe that the Earth, the universe, and all life was created by God in only 7 days, while some creationists think that the seven days were periods of time – taken from the Bible where it says that a thousand days is but one day to God. Science doesn’t agree with the statement, saying that the world we know today took billions of years to form through the process of Evolution. Would the Berea of the Utopian society have as many ideas as to how creation occurred or would it simply hold to one idea of the creation of the world?

In my most humble opinion, I think that Utopian Berea would see the way the universe was created was by a mixture of faith and science. Since every culture in the history of mankind has had some sort of religion, it could be assumed that religions would also exist in a perfect world. When I say that there would be a “mixture of science and faith”, I mean that we would see it as God using science as a tool to create the world; God using Evolution to create the world. While the specifics of the Utopian religions are unfathomable, there would be some sort of general consensus that a higher being made the universe and that science is unraveling the ways in which the being did.

Science and faith would coexist in the Utopian Berea as it does here today. Not too long ago, the Vatican a.k.a. the Catholic Church, pardoned Galileo for the crimes that the Church accused him of. Examples such as these show that while religion and science may not always get along, we need both in order to live the lives that we deem necessary to live.

Moonlit Berea Nights

Welcome people of Berea...more importantly this class. Today’s blog features Berea...not as a pirate ship. Sorry maybe next week. Okay so from what I’ve noticed so far, that not a lot of us sleep at night. Homework keeps us up at all times of the night. Most people never stop to appreciate the beauty of the night at Berea.

In the middle of the darkened abyss that is a night at Berea, out over the field where eager college student would play, gentle mist eerily covers the land and if you walk into it, you realize quite a beautiful thing. That mist seems to go on forever and ever. That’s right. No end in sight.

And should you choose to go out there on a night like last night, you’ll notice a giant and blessed moon. Now definitely only do this on the night of a full moon. Any other night is a mockery of what I’m trying to portray. The moon so high up in the sky coupled with the never ending mist will allow you to reach one conclusion, a conclusion that I myself came to.

You’ll realize just how small you really are. That never-ending nothingness of the mist will help you put things in perspective. And this conclusion will either make you happy as you release your hold on small burdens or it can depress the crap out of you. I mean come on. Who really wants to know that they mean so little in the world?

I truly hope you reach the happy phase. No one wants to be unhappy.

A Place Called Home: Free Time

I feel that I have watched more movies and television shows since I came to Berea then in my entire life. Basically every Saturday is our claimed movie day. Anytime on Saturday one can find movie after movie playing in the basement. Every Saturday I take my homework down to the basement to start working on it, and every Saturday I seem to barely even crack open a book. I blame the movies for this. My roommate has introduced me to a variety of movies I had never heard of upon coming to Berea, along with movies I have already seen multiple times. This is how I spend my Saturdays.

I in turn have introduced my roommate to one of my favorite television shows, Supernatural. This introduction has led to a Supernatural marathon. We have stayed up well until 3 o’clock in the morning watching episode after episode starting from season one. So, as you can deduce, I spend most of my free time in Anna Smith next to a television. I watch way too many movies then needed.

I do also enjoy sitting on the Anna Smith porch. We have a porch swing that I love to swing on when the weather is nice outside. It is a nice, peaceful area to sit and read for a class. I have found that it is a good spot to study alone where there are few distractions and absolutely no movies or television shows playing. I have found a couple other ways to spend my free time while at Berea, but the majority of it is spent either studying or watching movies in the basement with friends.

The Social Hermit: Absurdity

As with any job that works with the general public, I face an assault of questions every day. The questions can range from being intensely personal, to general questions you would ask someone you just met, or even random questions that have nothing to do with my job. I will happily answer any question, but the ones that grate on my nerves are ones involving pre-formed thoughts on Berea. Berea of course has a rich history of many things: equality, labor, teaching, and crafts, as well as other things. Unfortunately, people seem to assume that because Berea has such a rich history of these things that it still adheres to them. Every day someone comes in, looks around the store, slowly gravitating closer to me, only to see that I’m making a broom, to which they ask me “So, are you an art major?” or even worse, “So, are you going to make brooms for a living?” The absurdity of these questions astounds me. Asking that that would be like walking up to a student working in a hotel and asking them if they plan on being a hotel manager after college! All I can do is smile politely, maybe even laugh, and politely inform them that Berea is a Liberal arts school, but that doesn’t mean that we all are majoring in the arts. I have faced stereotypes and generalizations because of where I lived (south eastern Kentucky and about as “Appalachian” as you can get) my entire life, but I accepted them, they were just a part of life that I had to accept. But now that I’m in this new town where tolerance and broad thinking is endorsed, I refuse to continue accepting this. Henceforth, every time someone enters the store with these misconceptions, I work my hardest to correctly inform them about the college and what we really are about.

The zombie horde and the mythical dragons

Another wave of zombies incoming. The survivors are still awaiting reinforcements if anyone is actually listening to this. They are coming and should arrive in about a week. We've begun preparations to handle this threat. Okay, enough of the character acting for now. In the periods of time between our zombie infestations, we continue our fight against boredom. For me this means going to a different realm entirely. The realm of Dungeons & Dragons. It's a fantasy world where a group of people, generally 4, takes on the world. The "dungeon master," or DM, makes the world, the adventure, and how the population reacts to the party's actions. I was lucky enough to get a roommate who is a talented DM, and agreed to face our party of heroes. Blades and hammers, bows and slings, or even fire balls and lightning bolts; we have used a wide array of weaponry and faced an even wider array of enemies, ranging from skeletons to dragons to ogres and everything in between. Simply put? It is great fun and a wonderful way to kill time and just hang out with friends. If you really get into your character and their ventures into the unknown; things get that much better. I urge everyone to find a DM near them and give our world a chance. Who knows? You might get lost in the realm of Dungeons & Dragons, or possibly eaten by a grue.