Autumn in the City

I have to admit, I find it simply adorable that people are going outside today with jackets and scarves.  It's 68 degrees out.  It's perfect and beautiful.

The leaves haven't started to change yet, but I can already tell the seasons are turning.  At the farmers' market yesterday, the summer squash and zucchini were gone, but the apples are starting to appear.  Apples and apple cider are some of my favorite things about fall.

I got to visit an old friend yesterday.  We've known each other for about ten years.  She was one of the people who encouraged me to pursue leaving school in tenth grade and figuring out my own educational path.  She moved from the Cape to the DC metro area, and we fell out of touch.  I'm so happy we were able to reconnect here.  We had a blast hanging out all day yesterday - not really doing much of anything of importance, but it was just what I needed.  Finally got me out of the building and out of the neighborhood into a new place.  I also drove the car for the first time since we moved here.  

Classes have got me thinking about the following topics: feminist hermeneutics, the formation of conscience, and the love of God from about ten different angles.  More on all this later.

Exhaustion. Beautiful Exhaustion.

So much for my daily journal. I feel like I've been going non-stop since classes started. I'm working twenty hours a week at a little Methodist church and going to classes non-stop. My favorite class so far is Christian Anthropology (favorite professor quote, "Relax. Have a scotch. We all eat apples."), followed closely by Christian Moral Life (although some of the readings drag).

I also, in one short month, managed to change my program to the academic MA, running screaming from feelings class. Ack. I think I'll be focusing on moral theology, but we'll see. It's still only month one.

The big anri-war march with ANSWER is this weekend. A Vets for Peace bus has taken refuge in our parking lot. I wish I was able to go, finally being in DC and all, but I have class on Saturday from 9-2, which kinda bites. This class has been interfering with my plans quite a bit, and it hasn't even started yet!

E. and I have both been burning the candle at both ends between our respective school and work. I don't know, though, I kind of like this craziness (for now). Our big adventure - moving halfway across the country - has been a success so far. Knock on wood.

Hello, Good Morning

This blog is an experiment for me. I've just moved in to my new home - an urban graduate theology school in the the nation's capitol, where I'll be getting my master's in pastoral studies. I'm 24 years old, married, pro-choice, Catholic, and feminist. I'm posting here under an old alias so good friends and family will know this is me (useful for keeping tabs on my exiciting life) and anonymous enough to protect my identity from ne'er-do-wells who would use it against me. I'm highly opinionated and will likely be using this space to mouth off when I have no where else to do it.

I've named this blog "The Urban Cloister." My school is small enough to contain the residence halls, classrooms, library, administration, and chapel all in one building. I could live the next two years and never set foot outside into my favorite city, Washington, DC.

This is an attempt to record my life as it happens. So it's 9:46 a.m. EDT and I'm in the library. More as it comes.