And now, for a more general update on what's going on in my life, with apologies for not posting so long. Ali and I moved into our new South Bend apartment a month and a half ago. She started classes at Notre Dame a couple weeks ago, and I started at Western Michigan University this week. We're both in two-year programs--me, a Master of Arts in philosophy, her, a Master of Theological Studies. I'm taking two classes this semester--Probability and Action & Perception--and T.A.ing for an Introduction to Philosophy class.
Although I've only just started, I've been quite happy with everything so far. Our apartment is small but perfectly liveable in, and I really like the feel of my department at WMU. My main qualm right now is that I have to commute from South Bend to Kalamazoo (where WMU is), which is about 80-85 minutes, give or take (depending on the day, and the route I take), but all things considered this is something I can live with, given that (a) it's only three times a week, and there are other people who do longer commutes more often for a longer period of time, (b) this lets Ali and I both go to schools we like while still living together, and (c) I really ought to be thankful to have a job (i.e., my teaching assistantship, which is currently our main source of income) at all right now. So all things considered I don't think I ought to complain. (Incidentally, if anyone knows of a place online where I can download books on tape for free--the phrase "books on tape" obviously being used figuratively here--let me know. I'd like to get some for the drive but am not really sure where to start, and don't really want to pay to download.)
Well, I ought to finish preparing for my Intro to Philosophy discussion sections tomorrow. Hurray for my first time leading a class section!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
BBC article on Nazi war deserters
Although I would like to post, hopefully sometime soon, with a general update on my life, for the moment I just want to share this BBC article which I just read. I'm no expert on WWII, or on Germany, but this really shocked me. Although the human proclivity towards nationalism combined with the general universal condemnation of conscientious objectors to war probably ought to make me less surprised; still, I really was quite surprised to learn that Nazi sentences on "war deserters" were still in effect until so recently. Actions and attitudes towards conscientious objectors in general bother me, but it nevertheless seems astonishing to me that those who had the moral clarity and courage to desert what almost everyone agrees was one of the most evil aggressors in history continued to be treated in this way until so recently. I'm also surprised I'd never heard about this before. There are still "Nazi hunters" trying to "bring to justice" people involved in the Nazi war machine (most of whom are now in their 90s or late 80s), and one hears about them all the time on the news. Why have I not heard more about efforts to bring justice for Nazi war deserters until now?
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Yes, I am alive
And active, too. Last month I graduated from
My last semester went well. I enjoyed all my courses, and while I could quite contentedly have spent another year at Messiah, I do feel like I am ready to be graduated, and move on. The fact that moving on means more school may help in that regard. I am looking forward, though, to being able to focus more solely on philosophy—not because I don’t enjoy the other areas that I’ve been studying (if I did I wouldn’t have studied them), but because I think I’ll be able to really delve deeper into particular areas of interest when I’m able to focus on them more exclusively. I’m only taking two courses most semesters, so I think I ought to be able to go more in depth in the areas I am studying than I’ve been able to in undergraduate work. I’m also looking forward to TAing, which should take up about half of my school time. I think it will be a good experience and a nice break from doing schoolwork all the time.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
This and that
Well, it has been a while. For those of you who have been living under a rock, a number of significant things have happened in my life in the past few months.
I am engaged! Alison and I got officially engaged a little over a month ago. We are going to be getting married July 11 next summer.
As for what we will be doing after that and where we will be living, that depends on what school(s) we get accepted to. Inshaa' Allah (if God wills) we will be accepted into either the same school or schools nearby each other (and get funding, too). She is applying to Master's programs in Theology, and I Doctorate programs in Philosophy. I am applying to Notre Dame, Yale, Northern Illinois University, and Western Michigan University (the last two are M.A. programs, but are well-known as good schools to go to en-route to a Ph.D.). She is applying to ND, Yale, Catholic Theological Union, and Catholic University of America. Hopefully something will work out for both of us between all of those. I'm pretty confident that something will--we should both have strong applications, and I just took my GRE a little over a month ago and did well. We'll be finishing our applications in the next month or so.
More recently, I was proud to cast my vote in what I truly do feel is a historic election. I hope and pray that our president-elect will capitalize on the hope and good will that his victory has engendered.
This semester has been going well. It's been busy, and it will continue to be busy until the semester is over, but it's been good and I'm doing well in all my classes. And although I could do without some of the homework, I've found all of my classes this semester quite interesting. As per usual my class schedule is somewhat of a smorgasbord, with six classes in five different departments. It keeps things interesting. Right now I'm reading a very interesting book for my International Relations class on the failure of Western aid to do much about third-world poverty. It's called The White Man's Burden, by William Easterly. It's a bit depressing to read just how ineffective many of the highly touted poverty reduction programs have been (and continue to be today), but if we really care about helping the world's poor we do no good in deluding ourselves into thinking that well-intentioned but ineffective programs are working when they're not. I won't rehearse Easterly's argument here (maybe in another post), but I recommend this book.
Another fun activity this semester has been Philosophy Club. We've had more participation this semester than in the past, and we've had some interesting speakers and discussions. A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of presenting in it; I spoke about the problem of evil and John Hick's theodicy (the subject of a paper I wrote in Oxford). Because we were able to get alternate chapel credit for the event (Messiah students need to attend a certain number of chapels throughout the semester, and some of those can be "alternate chapel" events in evenings, which are often student-organized), a lot more people than usual came, meaning that our usual classroom was very crowded, with more people than there were chairs (in retrospect, we ought to have foreseen this and used a bigger room that week). The talk went pretty well, I thought, although because some people were there pretty much just for the chapel credit not everyone really seemed to be listening. This is not really surprising--in our common chapel many students do homework or other stuff rather than listen to the speaker. In my talk, there were a few students who were definitely doing homework, a couple who were texting on their cellphones, and one who was blatantly sleeping (it's not that he just fell asleep accidentally; he had his head down on the desk on his arms as if he meant to be sleeping). Now, most people weren't like this, but those who were could be very distracting. I now know what our common chapel speakers feel like.
We just got back from our Thanksgiving Break, which I spent at Alison's house. Not quite as exotic as places certain people went over the break, but relaxing nevertheless. And very fattening. Or it would have been if I were actually capable of gaining weight. I think I ate enough for about three weeks over the last week, though, and I ate enough Pumpkin Pie to last me until next Thanksgiving. Not only did I have all the Thanksgiving food (times two for both sides of the family, plus the Thanksgiving feast my apartment prepared just before the break), I also had birthday food (I turned 22 a week ago) and general "my daughter and her fiancee are home so I'm going to make them lots of food" from Ali's mom.
The semester is almost over now. We only have a week and a half left, and then exams. I'll be at Ali's house for a few days and then flying to Manitoba with Vaughn a couple days before Christmas. I will, however, be staying in Steinbach for a few weeks before coming back to school because I want to get to my friend Janelle's wedding in mid-January. I'll be missing the first week and a half of January-Term, but that's okay because I'll be working on my Honors Project that term rather than taking a formal class, and I can do my work for that as well at home as I can at school (well, maybe not quite as well, but I can do some work at home, at least).
That about does it for goings-on in my life. I leave you with an encouraging news story about where our society is headed. I just hope our new machine overlords are kind.
I am engaged! Alison and I got officially engaged a little over a month ago. We are going to be getting married July 11 next summer.
As for what we will be doing after that and where we will be living, that depends on what school(s) we get accepted to. Inshaa' Allah (if God wills) we will be accepted into either the same school or schools nearby each other (and get funding, too). She is applying to Master's programs in Theology, and I Doctorate programs in Philosophy. I am applying to Notre Dame, Yale, Northern Illinois University, and Western Michigan University (the last two are M.A. programs, but are well-known as good schools to go to en-route to a Ph.D.). She is applying to ND, Yale, Catholic Theological Union, and Catholic University of America. Hopefully something will work out for both of us between all of those. I'm pretty confident that something will--we should both have strong applications, and I just took my GRE a little over a month ago and did well. We'll be finishing our applications in the next month or so.
More recently, I was proud to cast my vote in what I truly do feel is a historic election. I hope and pray that our president-elect will capitalize on the hope and good will that his victory has engendered.
This semester has been going well. It's been busy, and it will continue to be busy until the semester is over, but it's been good and I'm doing well in all my classes. And although I could do without some of the homework, I've found all of my classes this semester quite interesting. As per usual my class schedule is somewhat of a smorgasbord, with six classes in five different departments. It keeps things interesting. Right now I'm reading a very interesting book for my International Relations class on the failure of Western aid to do much about third-world poverty. It's called The White Man's Burden, by William Easterly. It's a bit depressing to read just how ineffective many of the highly touted poverty reduction programs have been (and continue to be today), but if we really care about helping the world's poor we do no good in deluding ourselves into thinking that well-intentioned but ineffective programs are working when they're not. I won't rehearse Easterly's argument here (maybe in another post), but I recommend this book.
Another fun activity this semester has been Philosophy Club. We've had more participation this semester than in the past, and we've had some interesting speakers and discussions. A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of presenting in it; I spoke about the problem of evil and John Hick's theodicy (the subject of a paper I wrote in Oxford). Because we were able to get alternate chapel credit for the event (Messiah students need to attend a certain number of chapels throughout the semester, and some of those can be "alternate chapel" events in evenings, which are often student-organized), a lot more people than usual came, meaning that our usual classroom was very crowded, with more people than there were chairs (in retrospect, we ought to have foreseen this and used a bigger room that week). The talk went pretty well, I thought, although because some people were there pretty much just for the chapel credit not everyone really seemed to be listening. This is not really surprising--in our common chapel many students do homework or other stuff rather than listen to the speaker. In my talk, there were a few students who were definitely doing homework, a couple who were texting on their cellphones, and one who was blatantly sleeping (it's not that he just fell asleep accidentally; he had his head down on the desk on his arms as if he meant to be sleeping). Now, most people weren't like this, but those who were could be very distracting. I now know what our common chapel speakers feel like.
We just got back from our Thanksgiving Break, which I spent at Alison's house. Not quite as exotic as places certain people went over the break, but relaxing nevertheless. And very fattening. Or it would have been if I were actually capable of gaining weight. I think I ate enough for about three weeks over the last week, though, and I ate enough Pumpkin Pie to last me until next Thanksgiving. Not only did I have all the Thanksgiving food (times two for both sides of the family, plus the Thanksgiving feast my apartment prepared just before the break), I also had birthday food (I turned 22 a week ago) and general "my daughter and her fiancee are home so I'm going to make them lots of food" from Ali's mom.
The semester is almost over now. We only have a week and a half left, and then exams. I'll be at Ali's house for a few days and then flying to Manitoba with Vaughn a couple days before Christmas. I will, however, be staying in Steinbach for a few weeks before coming back to school because I want to get to my friend Janelle's wedding in mid-January. I'll be missing the first week and a half of January-Term, but that's okay because I'll be working on my Honors Project that term rather than taking a formal class, and I can do my work for that as well at home as I can at school (well, maybe not quite as well, but I can do some work at home, at least).
That about does it for goings-on in my life. I leave you with an encouraging news story about where our society is headed. I just hope our new machine overlords are kind.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
What I've been up to
I see it's been awhile since my last entry. I've been rather busy--it seems that the most time-consuming stuff in my summer was all in the second half of it. From June 29 through July 19 I was working for Camps with Meaning, Mennonite Church Manitoba's camping organization. They run three camps throughout the province, and after staff training week at Assiniboia, outside of Winnipeg, I spent two weeks counseling at Koinonia, which is in the west of Manitoba, quite close to the International Peace Garden, and about a four hour's drive from Steinbach.
My first week at Koinonia was a little different--it was an "AD-Venture" week, meaning that the campers were Adults with Disabilities, rather than children. I had never really done any work with the mentally handicapped before, so this was a new experience for me. It was at times very stressful, especially because the cabin that Chris, my co-counselor, and I were counseling contained some of the highest needs campers. Even so, I found it very rewarding, and am glad that I did it. I could have done without the tornado warning on the last night, though, where we had to wake up all the campers and get them into the Lodge basement until we were sure we were safe. Thankfully the tornado didn't touch down anywhere near us.
The week after that was Junior week, meaning the campers were aged 7-12 or so, with most being in the 8 to 10 range. My cabin that week was pretty good, with the exception of one camper who was, to put it politely, a little hell-raiser. At least I got some satisfaction when he lost his voice near the end of the week, which was not surprising given that he been yelling literally all week (yelling was his primary form of communication). That one trouble camper notwithstanding, however, all in all it was a good week.
Incidentally, one of the things that I really appreciated about working at Camp Koinonia was the emphasis that Camps with Meaning places on values that are dear to me, from peace to environmentalism to social justice. They are very intentional about creation care and teaching the kids to love and care for creation, which I think is a wonderful thing. And they really would go the extra mile to make sure that they were practicing what they were preaching, such as making sure that their staff t-shirts were not produced in sweatshops. This may seem like a small thing, but so many Christian organizations simply don't even think about these things, and it was nice to be working for a camp that really tried to put them into practice.
At the end of Junior week, then, I came back home to Steinbach. There is, of course, no rest for the weary, and so only two days after getting back, I started in on my Greek course at Prov, giving me practically no time to unwind or process my time at camp, or blog for that matter. I am now halfway through that course, meaning I have now finished the equivalent of one semester of Biblical Greek. It's been tough, but I am amazed at how much I have learned in such a short span of time. One might think that four weeks is way too short a period of time to cram two semesters of a language into, and while in a way it really is, there definitely is an advantage to studying a language like this. Since I am not taking any other classes right now and don’t have any other major commitments, I can (even if I don’t always) invest considerable time in studying outside of class, and so always stay focused on learning the language. Since we are doing everything in such a short span of time, everything that I’ve learned is relatively fresh in my mind, even if it was on one of the first days of class (which is only a week and a half ago!), meaning that I don’t forget rules from earlier in the course by the time the mid-term rolls around. Because I’m constantly doing Greek, and building off of everything that I’ve done earlier, it really does stick better than it might otherwise. Of course, the real question is whether it will stick after, but that will depend on me, I suppose.
On Friday we had our mid-term exam for the course, and I think that I did pretty well. We do get a little bit of a break this weekend because Monday is a Civic Holiday, so we don't have class. But I've still got plenty of exercises to do and vocabulary to learn before Tuesday. My mom's brother and his family are here to visit us this weekend, so I've been spending some time with them too. Then after this weekend I've got two more weeks of Greek, and then just a few more days before I'm heading back to Messiah. The plan looks to be to fly to Toronto on August 20 and drive down to Pennsylvania with Vaughn the day after. I'm going back early to help with the international student orientation--classes start at the beginning of September. I'm sad to see the summer finish so soon but I'm looking forward to this next semester. It'll be a little weird, too, finding that I don't know most of the people at the school--given that there will be a new First Year class, I don't know any of the upcoming Sophomores, and many of the Juniors (and a few of the Seniors) I know will be studying abroad themselves now that I'm coming back. It will be nice to see many of my friends again, though, especially those that I have not seen this last year on account of being abroad. There will be much catching up to do, I'm sure.
As for now, I have Greek to do, and relatives to visit with. I believe they are watching Canadian Bacon downstairs.
My first week at Koinonia was a little different--it was an "AD-Venture" week, meaning that the campers were Adults with Disabilities, rather than children. I had never really done any work with the mentally handicapped before, so this was a new experience for me. It was at times very stressful, especially because the cabin that Chris, my co-counselor, and I were counseling contained some of the highest needs campers. Even so, I found it very rewarding, and am glad that I did it. I could have done without the tornado warning on the last night, though, where we had to wake up all the campers and get them into the Lodge basement until we were sure we were safe. Thankfully the tornado didn't touch down anywhere near us.
The week after that was Junior week, meaning the campers were aged 7-12 or so, with most being in the 8 to 10 range. My cabin that week was pretty good, with the exception of one camper who was, to put it politely, a little hell-raiser. At least I got some satisfaction when he lost his voice near the end of the week, which was not surprising given that he been yelling literally all week (yelling was his primary form of communication). That one trouble camper notwithstanding, however, all in all it was a good week.
Incidentally, one of the things that I really appreciated about working at Camp Koinonia was the emphasis that Camps with Meaning places on values that are dear to me, from peace to environmentalism to social justice. They are very intentional about creation care and teaching the kids to love and care for creation, which I think is a wonderful thing. And they really would go the extra mile to make sure that they were practicing what they were preaching, such as making sure that their staff t-shirts were not produced in sweatshops. This may seem like a small thing, but so many Christian organizations simply don't even think about these things, and it was nice to be working for a camp that really tried to put them into practice.
At the end of Junior week, then, I came back home to Steinbach. There is, of course, no rest for the weary, and so only two days after getting back, I started in on my Greek course at Prov, giving me practically no time to unwind or process my time at camp, or blog for that matter. I am now halfway through that course, meaning I have now finished the equivalent of one semester of Biblical Greek. It's been tough, but I am amazed at how much I have learned in such a short span of time. One might think that four weeks is way too short a period of time to cram two semesters of a language into, and while in a way it really is, there definitely is an advantage to studying a language like this. Since I am not taking any other classes right now and don’t have any other major commitments, I can (even if I don’t always) invest considerable time in studying outside of class, and so always stay focused on learning the language. Since we are doing everything in such a short span of time, everything that I’ve learned is relatively fresh in my mind, even if it was on one of the first days of class (which is only a week and a half ago!), meaning that I don’t forget rules from earlier in the course by the time the mid-term rolls around. Because I’m constantly doing Greek, and building off of everything that I’ve done earlier, it really does stick better than it might otherwise. Of course, the real question is whether it will stick after, but that will depend on me, I suppose.
On Friday we had our mid-term exam for the course, and I think that I did pretty well. We do get a little bit of a break this weekend because Monday is a Civic Holiday, so we don't have class. But I've still got plenty of exercises to do and vocabulary to learn before Tuesday. My mom's brother and his family are here to visit us this weekend, so I've been spending some time with them too. Then after this weekend I've got two more weeks of Greek, and then just a few more days before I'm heading back to Messiah. The plan looks to be to fly to Toronto on August 20 and drive down to Pennsylvania with Vaughn the day after. I'm going back early to help with the international student orientation--classes start at the beginning of September. I'm sad to see the summer finish so soon but I'm looking forward to this next semester. It'll be a little weird, too, finding that I don't know most of the people at the school--given that there will be a new First Year class, I don't know any of the upcoming Sophomores, and many of the Juniors (and a few of the Seniors) I know will be studying abroad themselves now that I'm coming back. It will be nice to see many of my friends again, though, especially those that I have not seen this last year on account of being abroad. There will be much catching up to do, I'm sure.
As for now, I have Greek to do, and relatives to visit with. I believe they are watching Canadian Bacon downstairs.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
URL Change
Just so you're aware, I'm going to be changing the URL of this blog to climenhaga.blogspot.com in a week or so. That address did not use to be free, if memory serves, but now it looks like it is, and I was looking for something other than my full name to serve as my URL...
Also, for those interested, I'm starting to put pictures from last semester up on Facebook.
Also, for those interested, I'm starting to put pictures from last semester up on Facebook.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Cleaning
It took a lot of work, but my room is finally clean! And organized! Or at least, it's as much of both of those as it's going to get this summer. It'd be even better organized if only the paper size in Britain and the Middle East was the same as the paper size here in North America--dang foreign papers not fitting into my boxes.
Now, onto the twenty other things I need to do...
Now, onto the twenty other things I need to do...
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