The following is a summary of approximately five hours of my life while I attempt to write a paper due on Tuesday. I hope it's not dreadfully boring. I find that if I have a little mental break every few minutes or so, it might as well be blogging about writing my paper! If I get on facebook/twitter too often, I am a goner.
7:20 - Arrive at Bennu Cafe, think of crying. Wonder what the hell I will be able to write about.
7:25 - Order drink, spoon off the whipped cream first, (Yummy!) Read prompt. Reread prompt. Consider crying again.
7:30 - Stare at Bible and wish that it would just speak to me the answer. Are there any burning bushes around to help?
7:31 - Reread prompt. Reread pdf of Thomas Aquinas' Quodlibet, from which the prompt comes.
7:40 - Google "Fourfold interpretation + Thomas Aquinas". A whole lot of nothing.
7:42 - Remember that a friend from Bible study loaned me "Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament". Celebrate silently in chair.
7:50 - Set up Thomas Aquinas' argument as bullet points, and find it suddenly makes more sense this way.
7:56 - Stare longingly at Bible and wish there was a sparknotes version that would hand me what I needed and eliminate the rest.
7:59 - Consider the sense of empowerment that the system of bullet points gives me, wonder if this is a normal thing for other people.
8:05 - Speed read a chapter or two of Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament and resign myself to going to Isaiah for my Old Testament verse, despite how much I really didn't like the book when I had to read it a few weeks ago. (Something about reading the endless text written in verse toward the end of the book really got to me.)
8:15 - Finding some good verses in Isaiah with which I think I can produce a significant amount of BS to write this paper. (The kind of interpretation I need to do is almost entirely made up of BS. I've gotten the impression it's about finding purely circumstantial evidence and making it seem like it was meant to be read that way all along.)
8:20 - Just found an opportunity to use one of my favorite Renaissance vulgarities: 'Zounds! (pronounced 'zoonds') It means "God's Wounds". Words like that littered the plays I read last Spring in my Renaissance Drama class.
8:26 - I've just realized it's fully dark outside, which means I have no excuse for not doing homework, darn it. It's just so hard to do work when it's light outside!
8:32 - Am I allowed to use Isaiah 53? That seems too easy. Way too straightforward... ?
8:38 - What bothers me about the prompt (which I summarized above) is that at one point he says "two passages of your choosing" and then later says "A hint which should go without saying: you will need to make use of more than two Scriptural passages overall." So which is it? Two? Or more than two?
8:40 - I think I found a good passage to write about: Isaiah 54 (1-3).
- Jerusalem, you have been like a childless woman, / but now you can sing and shout for joy, / Now you will have more children / than a woman whose husband never left her. / Make the tent you live in larger; lengthen its ropes and strengthen its pegs! / You will extend your boundaries on all sides; / your people will get back the land / that the other nations now occupy. / Cities now deserted will be filled with people
8:52 - I rewarded myself finding my quote by letting myself have a little break to lurk on facebook for 10 minutes. Best 10 minutes of the night, easily.
8:57 - Uh-oh. The first 'Snark Attack' of the night just struck when I was writing down more detailed notes/thoughts about the passage. (In my list of possible verses to write about, I made a note s next to Isaiah 54 saying "Duh, winning!")
9:03 - I really prefer my Bible's translation to the one I have to use for class. (Acts 1: 8)
- My Textbook Bible ("New Revised Standard Edition"): But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’
- My Bible ("Today's English Version"): But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
There are better examples, but I thought I would provide an example of a verse I'm actually using in my paper. Apparently, the NRSV is the most accurate translation. In my opinion, accurate translation is great, but isn't it all scripture anyway?
9:19 - I can't decide if I want to write this paper tonight or tomorrow night. On the one hand, it makes way more sense to get it over with. On the other hand, I can write a ton of notes tonight and take a day to synthesize my argument in my brain. (But I should probably at least write some of it tonight.)
9:21 - Dear Me, STOP CHECKING FACEBOOK. YOU CLOSED THAT TAB FOR A REASON. Sincerely, Me.
9:28 - In the bathrooms here there are gigantic chalkboards on the walls - It's encourages graffiti in a non-permanent fashion, I suppose. Someone had written part of the chorus of Ingrid Michelson's "You and I" (clicky the link to go to grooveshark to give it a listen!), which is currently one of my favorite songs. (They said "Let's get rich and buy our parents homes in the south of France." I added the lyrics "Let's get rich and build a house on a mountain, makin' everybody look like ants.")
9:31 - Getting sick of listening to my alternative rock playlist, which usually serves me well while I write. (As an aside, one of my favorite songs to write papers to is "The Bird and the Worm" by The Used. Rock music inspires me to write faster. Also, I suppose I identify with the sense of despair. Hah.)
9:41 - Siobhan just tweeted something. Hooray, she is alive! (And now I go back to finding New Testament verses...) Ironically, we are both writing papers tonight. Except it is almost 4am where she is, so I am in less dire straits.
9:45 - Worrying that my chosen verse has too much to do with the Church and too little to do with Jesus. I AM DETERMINED to squeeze Jesus out of Isaiah! (<- Things I never thought I would say.)
9:54 - I'm having trouble finding specific verses in the New Testament that back my claim. It's not to say that they aren't there, just that they are hard to find.
10:06 - I found a good verse for the quote about strengthening pegs. Matthew 16:18, the one about Peter being the rock/foundation of the church. Success!
10:07 - I just quantified what the rest of my semester looks like: 4 weeks, 2 papers, 2 quizzes, 3 tests, 4 portfolios. Yuck.
10:18 - I just need to squeeze out 1200-1500 words on this essay. Putting it like that makes it seem like it ain't no thang. (I wrote 1667 words "a day" when I did NaNoWriMo.) My mantra will be: I am an English Major. I THRIVE on words.
10:34 - After more tweeting with Siobhan (she is so rarely about, I take advantage of when she is around. Sorry, people looking at my Twitter feed!) I have officially started to write my essay. My professor encourages getting straight to the point, but how do I do this? I am an English major, we don't get straight to the point!
10:52 - Almost finish writing the first of four interpretations of the Isaiah verse. I thank God that my powers of BS remain intact.
10:58 - Suck it! One page down! (I am an English Major, I THRIVE on words!)
11:08 - It is at times like these that I wish I could think in complete sentences. (I find that I tend to think in single words, short phrases, or very specific, rather small images. One of the reasons I like writing so much is that it is much easier for me to write in complete thoughts than to speak or think.) I am finding it hard to think of what the "childless woman" could represent. I don't think it is the Jewish people (since in the passage God is telling them they will remain fruitful, after all), but perhaps the time? Or perhaps it really is the city of Jerusalem, and the varied people within her - a stagnant, sinful time? Maybe the presence of the Romans in Jerusalem was what was making them temporarily barren? (Harshing their mellow, if you will.)
11:14 - I just ran out of songs on my genius playlist that I made for "The Bird and the Worm". Time for a new one! This time, "Lead Sails and a Paper Anchor" by Atreyu. (also one of my all-time favorites.)
11:24 - Someone added "Let us redefine what rich is" to the bathroom wall. Agreed, but obviously they don't know the song. (Also, I decided that Jerusalem was barren/childless because of the oppression of the Romans, and also the following century when their Temple was destroyed. Tons of turmoil for the Jews.)
11:29 - See Spot run. See Stefanie vomit up everything she's ever learned in every Theology class ever into one paper.
11:42 - Just wrote an email to my professor. I am a little confused about what to do with New Testament verses - do I include them in my exegesis of the passage from Isaiah or do I have a completely separate section for them altogether? (I am going to go with the first one for now, but if I get a response to the contrary, I will correct it.)
11:46 - My phone just buzzed in my pocket and nearly gave me a heart attack. I think if I can write another page or so I will be done for the night.
12:05 - Since I've just started really writing in circles (moreso than I probably should, even with THIS essay) I think I will call it a night, close my tab (for coffee, not alcohol!) and head home for to get to sleep.
Perhaps more on this paper tomorrow when I finish writing it... For now, I am le tired. Sleepy time please?
OH... I got a 92 on my test last Tuesday!
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