Things About Today

Today was a superly-productive day, and I'm closing it by just feeling generally really good about things.  So, here's a list of what happened today - actually, in the last couple days, I guess...

• Finished and turned in a kick-ass paper on the Holy Spirit.  Well, at least the intro and conclusion were kick-ass.  The middle part might not be so much.  Also, the whole thing was 6400 words.  It's been a long time since I wrote something that long.
• Finished and turned in a final project for my Ministry with the Mentally Ill and Their Families class. 
• Showered. (Trust me: Today, that counts as an accomplishment.)
• Got several emails I'd been meaning to send, sent.
• Organized a whole stack of mail and bills.
• Bought a freaking adorable Creighton t-shirt.
• Bought textbooks for the class I'm picking up the 2nd half of this semester.
• Got something for myself off my Amazon Wishlist, since I was there anyway.  (The Guys and Dolls DVD.  Love, love, love that movie.  What girl wouldn't run off to Cuba with Marlon Brando?)
• Got rejected from St. Louis U.  Well, that's the Jesuits for you, I guess.  Actually, it's ok.  It really wasn't my first choice.  Probably 2nd from the bottom, actually.
• Got a letter from my Compassion daughter.  She's so adorable - I just love little kids!  
• Realized that my insurance was being more reasonable than I first thought about my surgery.  
• Drank a lot of tea. 
• Started my annual ritual application of Jergens Natural Glow (which they have now added SPF to!).
• Created a to-do list for the rest of the week.  
• Had a couple really good conversations with friends.  
• Skipped German class.  (I really had to get those papers done!)
• Cleaned my room
• Made hard-boiled eggs for breakfast
• Remembered how much I like "reading for fun".  

So...that.  Yes.  Yay.

On the Incarnation

So, I've really been in a writing mood lately.  I could say more about why that is, but for the moment, let's just leave it at the fact that I'm in a writing mood.  I should probably be in a "studying for my Prophets midterm" mood, but I'm not. 

I've really been digging St. Athanasius' On the Incarnation lately.  I read it a couple years ago for a class on early church history, and just read it again recently for my Christology class.  Fortunately, my second time through, I was prescient enough to use a different color highlighter, so I can see how my thinking changed, what was important or appealing to me at different times, etc...

This is a fabulous little book, and so for the edification of all 4 people who read this blog, I'm going to post some of my favorite quotes.  If you haven't read it yet, you should.  If you've read it before, pick it up again.  You can't go wrong with this one.

• ...the renewal of creation has been wrought by the Self-same Word Who made it in the beginning.
• ...it was our sorry case that caused the Word to come down, our transgression that called out His love for us, so that He made haste to help us and to appear among us.  It is we who were the cause of His taking human form, and for our salvation that in His great love He was both born and manifested in a human body.
• For the solidarity of mankind is such that, by virtue of the Word's indwelling in a single human body, the corruption which goes with death has lost its power over all.
• The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father, Who could recreate man made after the Image.  
• Men had turned from the contemplation of God above, and were looking for Him in the opposite direction, down among created things and things of sense.  The Saviour of us all, the Word of God, in His great love took to Himself a body and moved as Man among men, meeting their senses, so to speak, halfway.  He became himself an object for the senses, so that those who were seeking God in sensible things might apprehend the Father through the works which He, the Word of God, did in the body.
• For this reason was He born and manifested as Man, for this He died and rose, in order that, eclipsing by His works all other human deeds, He might recall men from all the paths of error to know the Father.
• ...even in death He preserved His body whole and undivided, so that there should be no excuse hereafter for those who would divide the Church. [Why hello there, 2nd use of the Law!]
• If you see with your own eyes men and women and children, even, thus welcoming death for the sake of Christ's religion, how can you be so utterly silly and incredulous and maimed in your mind as not to realise that Christ, to Whom these all bear witness, Himself gives the victory to each, making death completely powerless for those who hold His faith and bear the sign of the cross?

Enjoy!

Conventions

I am becoming increasingly fed up with people who have little to no command of basic spelling or grammar.

If you graduated from high school, you should, at minimum, not be capitalizing random words in the middle of sentences.  German capitalizes all nouns.  English does not.  If you graduated from college, you should be able to spell almost every word you need to write.  That little red line in Microsoft Word means you should check the spelling.  If you're unsure, http://www.dictionary.com/ or an actual, physical dictionary will help you here.  If you have a graduate degree, you should be able to - and desire to - properly use commas and semicolons to avoid run-on sentences and aid clarity. 

Some people attribute poor spelling, grammar, and writing in general to the rise of texting and instant messaging.  Senders don't have time, or find it too difficult; recipients can "mentally fill in" missing apostrophes, commas, and capital letters.  I think there's some merit to this argument, but I propose that the greater cause is the decline of reading. 

Perhaps others had different experiences, but when I began to learn "conventions of grammar" in school, I actively memorized very little.  I was able to navigate lessons, assignments, and exams quite well simply by determining "what looks right."  I knew how words were spelled not because I studied hard for spelling tests, but because I had read them - in edited publications - so much that I had unconsciously absorbed the information.  When my third-grade teacher told me that we couldn't begin sentences with the word "because," I knew she was lying.  I didn't know what a dependent or independent clause was, but I knew that "Because it was such a beautiful day, many children were at the playground," was a perfectly acceptable sentence.  I knew this because I was a voracious reader and I had encountered this sentence structure on many occasions. 

I contend that many thoughtful and sincere individuals misspell or mis-punctuate many a word or phrase simply because they have never seen it in print, in a well-edited publication.  English is a language - especially when spoken quickly or sloppily, as Americans are wont to do - in which mishearing can lead to terrific misspelling and misuse.  How many times, for example, have you read a blog comment or Facebook post about something that is "for all intensive purposes"?  This is a misrendering of "for all intents and purposes", caused, no doubt, by having heard the expression without ever having seen it. 

I'm not perfect, and someone will probably come along and point out four or five mistakes I've made in this post alone.  I readily admit that I have a tendency to overuse commas and parenthetical expressions, an issue I have to edit heavily for with everything I write.  But it is my personal belief that excellent command of spelling and grammar will get one farther in life than nearly any other practical skill.  A person can say virtually anything, no matter how ridiculous, if it is spelled and punctuated properly.  The inverse is also true.  No matter how great one's ideas are, poor spelling and conventions will serve as a distraction that prevents readers from discerning and following the content. 

So, get to reading, people!  Expand your vocabulary, learn grammar and spelling and idiomatic expressions!  Learn to write and speak; let not this vulgar generation eradicate all beauty!