Sunday Morning at College

Sunday mornings at college are lovely. Of course, they still make me a bit homesick, because I miss the Sunday routine at home: going to Mass with my family and then donuts and coffee on the way home. (Yes, I know, Mom, you're shaking your head at me while reading this and reminding me that I romanticize it and that Jack and Riley are in the backseat poking each other with chocolatey fingers, but I'm going to insist that I miss that too. Call me crazy.) Anyway, there's something lovely about the Sunday morning routine here too. I love being able to walk to Mass in the morning. It's one of my favorite things about this campus. I can get up, get ready, put on my coat (and hat and mittens and don't forget the scarf! It's cold here.) and walk down the winding little path, over the little bridge and into our beautiful chapel. (you see? I romanticize everything. I could have described it as an ice cold walk where my fingers turn purple and I start panting like a little puppy- but I won't. I'm going to describe the cold as invigorating.)

Our chapel is beautiful here, and Sunday Mass is the best because the choir sings. Their voices are like angles from above. (That includes Monica. I have such talented friends.)

Another thing I like about Sundays here is brunch. (Not for the food, never for the food) but for the company. I love the atmosphere of Sunday brunch, visiting with people over coffee (Did I mention I always bring my French Press down to the commons for Sunday? I refuse to drink commons coffee because I am a coffee snob and so I bring my own coffee. Aren't I a hipster?) and talking about Aristotle's definition of friendship. Yes, that's the thing I like most about brunch here, it's perfectly normal to jump into a conversation where everyone's arguing wholeheartedly about different interpretations that could be taken from Aristotle. See, that's the thing about Christendom. Everyday life is an education. Education is not restricted to the classroom, or to studying, it stealthily steeps into every conversation. We're growing in our ability not only to think, but to really truly converse. It's so sad looking at people today and seeing how very few truly know what it is to have a good conversation. Conversation tends to be restricted to people, to gossip, and it should be filled with ideas. (I am so sorry for the amount of parenthesis and italics I'm using tonight. I don't know what's happening, other than I feel like I'm whispering when I use parenthesis and sometimes things need extra emphasis.) It's good to have friendships and acquaintanceships  (I don't think that's a word, but I'm using it) with people who want to discuss ideas. It's good to sit down and find yourself in a heated argument about the definition of friendship, which suddenly turns into a sidetracked conversation about Disney music, and then goes back to friendship.

Sunday mornings at college are lovely.

Adventure is Out There

In about an hour I'm leaving on a trip to go skiing. Perhaps I should spend this hour doing something productive (in other words, studying) but the sudden impulse has filled me to write a quick blog post. I've been meaning to sit down and write one ever since last Sunday (I actually do have a more formal one planned, something on the topic of Springtime and new life, but that would involve sitting down and concentrating, and transferring the picture I took from my camera- anyway, you know how it goes.)

I'm really excited to be going skiing though. Not only is skiing something I love, but I feel like I'm going on an adventure, and that's a pleasant feeling, indeed. In Padre's class he often goes on mini rants about what students spend their free time doing. I actually love when Padre goes on one of his rants about that, because there's so much truth to it. There was a Latin phrase that he had us write down in our notebooks (and I would replicate it here but I'm not a Latin scholar and I don't have my notebook with me) but it essentially meant 'work and play hard.' Something along those lines. It's just so true. So much of our time we spend passively doing things, part studying, part procrastinating, part socializing, but never giving our all to any of it, and that's not the way it should be. We should be on fire. When we study we should give our whole mind and heart to what we're working on, when we play it should be to do something memorable and lasting, unlike passively watching movies that you don't even really care about.

That's what I feel like I'm doing today. This is a memorable adventure, it's going out and doing something lasting and worthwhile, with people of my community at college. It's doing something active, exciting and meaningful. Tomorrow I'll be devoting my morning to studying hard, and today I'm going to do something fun.

Emily out.

Longer post later.

To be a Librarian

If you know me, you probably know that my dream job is to be a Children's Librarian. I have frequent rants about it. Well, rants implies being irritated and launching into a lengthy monologue because of it, what I mean instead would be launching into a lengthy monologue simply because I'm passionate about the subject and enjoy talking about it. I know being a Librarian isn't the best paid job, I know that it might be hard to find a job, I know that there's a lot of school involved, but I also know that it's the thing that I get most excited about, the thing that I want to work towards. I've always loved books and because of that I've always loved libraries. I have been a frequent visitor to my hometown library since before I can remember, and I have been working at libraries since my sixteenth birthday when I was finally old enough to apply for my first job. I'm eighteen now and working part time at the library at my college, as I have mentioned before. I think I officially decided I wanted to be a Librarian the second year of working at my Library. (When I say my library that would be this one: http://www.jclibrary.info/)

I specifically want to be a Children's Librarian because I love kids. That sounds a bit obvious, I know, but I want to be there for them. Education is such a beautiful wonderful thing, and I feel like part of the problem with our education system as it is, is that the love of it is sadly not emphasized. The emphasis is on grades, it's on getting through, and there's something so sad about that. The child who loves to read, who loves to learn, is far more likely to succeed with their education, because they are the ones who are going to go above and beyond. They are the ones who are going to want to pick up books that they read about in other books because they are interested. Instead of just filling the requirements they are going to want to do more, find out more, discover more. Part of the beauty of being a Children's Librarian is that it's part of their job to work out introducing this love of learning. As a Librarian you are outside of the school system, and yet you are someone that students come to for help and advice. Whether it is for school or for free-time, you get to introduce books, all the books that you have loved and that have changed your life.

Also, crafts. Arts and crafts are the best, and guess what a Children's Librarian gets to do? Design fun programs! Summer programs, and programs for drawing, reading, etc, etc. Does that sound like fun or what?

The other reason I want to be a Children's Librarian is something I learned while working at the library over the years. There are so many kids who come to the library who need someone. You see so many kids who so obviously don't have anyone, their home lives are less that ideal. There are kids who come to the library after school because there isn't anyone at home. Or come to the library with their parents and behave terribly, but really what they're doing is seeking attention. Their parent is sitting at the computers and the kid is doing anything that they can think of just to get their parent to pay attention to them, and it's heartbreaking. There are kids who are dressed in mismatch clothes, who haven't had their hair brushed, and there's nothing sadder than that. Those kids need someone. They need someone who's going to care, who wants to listen to them, who wants to hear what they have to say. Everyone needs someone like that in there life, and that person can be all the difference in a child's life. Over the course of working at the library I had kids who would just follow me around while I was shelving books because I was someone to talk to, someone who didn't tell them to go away and be quiet. I want to be that person in those children's lives.

That's why I want to be a Children's Librarian. Why I think working at the library is wonderful. Why I think more people should visit the library. Why I think the library's so very important.