Monasteries, heat, and sundry
Aug. 16th, 2008 03:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thrihyrneI just took a really hot walk to the closest post office to post my resume, references and cover letter for an Alumni & Development Assistant position at Reed College. They're literally just down the road, down 39th. My first job out of college was as an A&D assistant, so I'm hopeful. I took back roads this time and went around a Jesuit Novitiate center, which tugs at part of my spirit in ways that might seem odd if you don't know my past.
I have 'monastic vows' as one of my interests; I've had a perhaps-intriguing relationship with monasteries, or one in particular, as formative in my adult life. I'm a currently non-practicing Episcopalian, and the Episcopal church isn't too far off from pre-Vatican II Catholicism. Generally speaking. At any rate, I went to Gethsemani Abbey two or three times with my now ex-husband, and quite enjoyed each visit. It's quiet, and isolated, and the ritualist/liturgy-centric part of me resonated with the ebb and flow of days. Here's some Thevina trivia, as well: I was proposed to on the front steps of the Abbey. My wasband proposed to his first wife on a Civil War battlefield, and had remarked ruefully about that once he and I were together. I don't know what he would say about the location for his second proposal and our now separation. In the realm of perhaps TMI, I've been celibate since late October of '06, and I suppose that in some ways I could be seen to be functioning as a monk, continuing to worship at the High Altar of Creativity.
There's a book that I love which I doubt I've mentioned here, but it's one of the few that made the cut when I moved out to Oregon, All We Know of Heaven by Rémy Rougeau. It's a very quiet novel about a young Canadian man who becomes a novitiate in a Cistercian abbey in 1973. The prose is clean and the plot is slow-paced, which fits that lifestyle, but Rougeau actually packs a lot into the book. There are undercurrents of the protagonist's sexuality, and his fallings in and out with his fellow monks, most of whom are several decades older. I highly recommend it, especially if your local library has it and you're looking for something a bit out of the ordinary but very well written.
It's really freaking hot. The yards of the houses I passed during my walk are all burned to a crisp. This is surely atypical weather, but goodness knows. I've experienced a few ebbs and flows of weather cycles in the few weeks I've been here, so this, too, will pass I'm sure.
The sundry... I got a library card today! Yay. So now I have The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay as a book on tape (it was given to me a few years ago by a former Nashville Opera coworker who said that it reminded her of my writing [she'd read some of my Tolkien fanfic] but I've never gotten into it and gave it to the used bookstore gent in Harrisonburg when I moved), a documentary on kids aging out of foster care, and "The L-Word" third season on DVD. No, I've not seen seasons one or two, either. :P I have no idea what I'll think of it; I'd have preferred to find Queer As Folk, but identifying as essentially pansexual, I thought it would be interesting to give it a try as I lounge here and sweat in front of my computer. There's no A/C in the house, which actually suits me fine. I actively dislike air conditioning and never use it in my car. I've been writing up a storm of drabbles— HP, Wraeththu and Swordspoint— and will probably sink my teeth into a new Wraeththu fic... or I may watch my DVDs. ;)
I have 'monastic vows' as one of my interests; I've had a perhaps-intriguing relationship with monasteries, or one in particular, as formative in my adult life. I'm a currently non-practicing Episcopalian, and the Episcopal church isn't too far off from pre-Vatican II Catholicism. Generally speaking. At any rate, I went to Gethsemani Abbey two or three times with my now ex-husband, and quite enjoyed each visit. It's quiet, and isolated, and the ritualist/liturgy-centric part of me resonated with the ebb and flow of days. Here's some Thevina trivia, as well: I was proposed to on the front steps of the Abbey. My wasband proposed to his first wife on a Civil War battlefield, and had remarked ruefully about that once he and I were together. I don't know what he would say about the location for his second proposal and our now separation. In the realm of perhaps TMI, I've been celibate since late October of '06, and I suppose that in some ways I could be seen to be functioning as a monk, continuing to worship at the High Altar of Creativity.
There's a book that I love which I doubt I've mentioned here, but it's one of the few that made the cut when I moved out to Oregon, All We Know of Heaven by Rémy Rougeau. It's a very quiet novel about a young Canadian man who becomes a novitiate in a Cistercian abbey in 1973. The prose is clean and the plot is slow-paced, which fits that lifestyle, but Rougeau actually packs a lot into the book. There are undercurrents of the protagonist's sexuality, and his fallings in and out with his fellow monks, most of whom are several decades older. I highly recommend it, especially if your local library has it and you're looking for something a bit out of the ordinary but very well written.
It's really freaking hot. The yards of the houses I passed during my walk are all burned to a crisp. This is surely atypical weather, but goodness knows. I've experienced a few ebbs and flows of weather cycles in the few weeks I've been here, so this, too, will pass I'm sure.
The sundry... I got a library card today! Yay. So now I have The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay as a book on tape (it was given to me a few years ago by a former Nashville Opera coworker who said that it reminded her of my writing [she'd read some of my Tolkien fanfic] but I've never gotten into it and gave it to the used bookstore gent in Harrisonburg when I moved), a documentary on kids aging out of foster care, and "The L-Word" third season on DVD. No, I've not seen seasons one or two, either. :P I have no idea what I'll think of it; I'd have preferred to find Queer As Folk, but identifying as essentially pansexual, I thought it would be interesting to give it a try as I lounge here and sweat in front of my computer. There's no A/C in the house, which actually suits me fine. I actively dislike air conditioning and never use it in my car. I've been writing up a storm of drabbles— HP, Wraeththu and Swordspoint— and will probably sink my teeth into a new Wraeththu fic... or I may watch my DVDs. ;)