we're almost there!

Hey everyone,

So I registered last week and it went pretty well, I registered for all the classes that I wanted.  I'm taking the 4th Macaulay Seminar, a Thomas Hunter Honors Seminar, Advanced German Conversation, Music Theory 2 and Musicianship 2, and Jerusalem in the 20th Century.  I'm so happy about my classes--I don't love how they had to be scheduled, but whatever.  The past three registrations, I've ended up changing most of my classes last minute!

As for my current classes, they're going pretty well also, as we wind down towards finals!  My group gave our presentation, on ecological gap analysis, for our Seminar at the Macaulay building last night.  It was pretty cool!  Presentations can be nerve-wracking, but I love that I'm able to get some practice now.  I'm okay with speaking, but I really want to get comfortable with presenting information, in front of a group.

I also had to visit the Museum of the American Indian for my Tribal Religions class.  The assignment was to find an object and write about its significance, in relation to what we've learned in class.  The Museum is really cool--they have an exhibit right now about American Indians in popular music, from 1920s' jazz to 1960s' rock and folk and today's pop.  You can sit and listen to the music while you read, or watch a video of performances.  They also have their permanent exhibits, which is where I found this drum:

I wrote about how it might effect the player's sense of togetherness and the groups' sense of community and worship.  I also wrote about the significance of the lines and circles.  This may or may not be true, but what matters in the paper is the depth of thinking.  We're supposed to look at the objects, not with our prior knowledge in mind, but with an open mind, so that we can understand what we see, instead of what we know.  It's so difficult to do at first, but I think I've been getting the hang of it!  I'm looking forward to taking another religion class, and to going to another museum, sometime soon. 

Happy St. Nicholas Day everyone!  Keep working hard and preparing for finals; before you know it, we'll be on break!  We're almost there!  Talk to you soon =] 

G.