Papers Down

My last academic paper was turned in at 6:30 today.

Sweet.

Just grading to go. Final push!

Shout out!

Terrible picture from my student's show tonight. A student of mine opened for Dead Prez tonight at the FOX Theater.

I was hella impressed, and, get this, he totally gave me a shout out from stage.

I'm still in the throws of finals and writing. Again, I have nothing but sad apologies for my pathetic content here. Only one paper left though.

Almost half way done with grad school.


Stephen, doing his thing. He's the one on the left when the video starts. He's run's track at CU and this is a song about that. So delightful! I'm so proud of my talented students. They kick so much ass! =D

too late to apologize

Late posting again. Need to write two whole term papers by Wednesday night at 11. Of course, I have to go to class tomorrow from 6:30 to 9 to present another paper (which still requires major revision) and proctor an exam at 1pm Wednesday, followed by entering grades, which (if past experience is any indication) will last until 9pm.

I need a swift, stiff drink. "To not pulling the trigger. Cheers!"

Yichen and me.

i hate you, rhetorical criticism

me and my rhetorical criticism paper

I wrote 20 pages in 11 hours today (that includes the research required to do so). So I'm not writing one more thing than I have to now. Deal.

P.S. I have to lecture for the class I TA for tomorrow. 500 people. Kill me in the face.

Identity Crisis/Crisis of Faith

What constitutes a faith? A particular worldview, ideology, religion, spirituality, or set of conventions and behaviors that dictate one’s life? The term faith conjures up images of strong belief and practice—something that requires devotion and something that demands a certain element of trust in and expectation of that thing. While faith is a deeply personal element of an individual, a faith is something people share which can foster community and facilitate culture. A faith is something people, groups of people, identify with.

But the ability to identify with a faith—or anything—doesn’t just fall in to place accidentally. Religions do not boast millions of followers by dumb luck. Rather, an identity is carefully crafted and strategically promoted on behalf of the belief itself by those representing it. In this way, rhetoric is essential to the experience of faith and community that is so closely tied to religion and spirituality.

As in all churches, this experience is unique in First Congregational Church, a member of the United Church of Christ denomination located in Boulder, Colorado. Each institution of faith has its own traits and characteristics which construct its unique identity. Or, perhaps more accurately, traits and characteristics are constructed to create this identity. It is no wonder that the familiar phrases “having a crisis of faith” and “an identity crisis” have become clichés; faiths now inherently have an interdependent relationship with identity.

The above is my first attempt at an introduction for my rhetorical criticism paper. Feel free to critique. It's only one page...the intro itself isn't even complete yet.

Sitting and waiting. Note the lovely day outside and me sitting inside.

Grad school. It'll kill ya.