Semi-Obligatory Back-to-School Post

It has come to my attention that I haven't posted since, well, early June. Shameful. And here I am, about to launch into a most mundane exposition of my return to academia.

The return to academic pursuits, though, is not without its disadvantages. It also signals the end of summer reading, which, though better than last year, was not as rigorous as I might have anticipated. Completed books include:

* Harry Potter, numbers I-IV. And yes, these were a first-time read. Chide me as you must, I'm not one for fad literature.
* The Good Earth
* The Secret Life of Bees
* Good in Bed
* Enchantment
* The Lovely Bones
* Princess

At any rate, the summer passed without event-- mostly work, work, and more work, with a periodic interlude of visits to Seattle and such. It was a comfortable routine, one which gave me at least the appearance of stability. Now, however, I about to quit said stable job-- to throw myself into the early stages of a new "career," as it were, and embark on my journey into the legal profession. Which simply stated means I found a job as a menial desk clerk in a law firm.

This vocational transition corresponds neatly to the commencement of my final year in undergraduate work. Thus far, said final year is off to a solid start. Perhaps I say this only because it is Tuesday, and my classes are limited to Latin and Logic. Ah yes, I at last return to my classical foundations. Enough with the pragmatism of trial and argument; they have their place, to be sure, but so often I neglect the principles behind these tools. Hopefully taking such basic classes will revive my interest in and focus on the purpose of argument, and not simply its utilitarian qualities.

Furthermore, I love having quaint little teachers who look and dress as though they ought to be singing "I'm a Little Teapot" and yet speak formidably about the ins-and-outs of symbolic logic. I should say the semester is off to a most advantageous start.

Brilliance

“She got so excited when she was spouting this ahistorical countertextual nonsense, and I caught myself thinking, ‘What an idiot her teacher must be,’ and thinking about her teacher made me realize—the kind of excitement she was showing as she mindlessly spouted back the nonsense she learned in college, that's just the excitement some of my own students show. And it occurred to me that what we professors think of as a ‘brilliant student’ is nothing but a student who is enthusiastically converted to whatever idiotic ideas we've been teaching them. ”

~Orson Scott Card, Enchantment