Wednesday, February 08, 2006

New Semester... "Here we go again"

Well, I've been to all of my classes once now and it's going to be a busy semester - not that I didn't already know that. On top of classes, I'm continuing my attempt to be active in Sacred Worth (our seminary's gay-straight alliance type group) and the Social Justice Committee, plus working three campus jobs (library and student assistant for two professors). I love all of the things that I do on campus, although sometimes it feels like I need to scale back and really pick the most important things to focus on. I have no idea how I would choose. Anyway, I'm borrowing the title of Warren Carter's sermon from chapel yesterday (which was really enjoyable) in regards to things going on around campus already this semester. I put up the signs around campus for Sacred Worth meetings, and last semester we noticed that some of our signs were being taken down before the meetings had happened. Alan Herndon, our Dean of Students, sent out an email to the entire campus reminding them of the policy regarding signs - whoever puts them up takes them down, basically. Last night was our first meeting of Sacred Worth for the semester and yesterday afternoon I noticed that the signs from the library elevator and the break room (two fairly prominent places) were taken down. I'm at a loss. I knew that there were people who were uncomfortable or upset about us meeting, but where is the basic level of respect?! If I go to Alan again, what can he or anyone else really do about it? Nothing. We don't know who is taking the signs down, but it seems to happen in the same locations. Our group will go on meeting whether the signs stay up or not, but who know if there were/are missed opportunities...

4 comments:

revhipchick said...

i think you should notify alan yet again! seemingly there might not be anything to do about it, but if he knows and is watchful perhaps they can spot who's doing it and talk with them. it's total crap and a very cowardly way to deal with the situation.

you need to get your little drum major in check, dearie;>)

i hope you don't feel pressured about SJC--i know that you don't want to see it lose the momentum from 04-05, but i am dedicated to picking up the slack that occurred during the last semester. we certainly appreciated all your efforts though! just send me an email telling me to get my butt in gear if you see me slacking off with SJC--or Carter's class!

mandyc said...

well, i did notify alan, who is also upset about it. expect another email reminder of the school's policy (not that it did any good the last time). and just what do you mean by the drum major comment?
i don't want to see SJC lose momentum, but i was really frustrated with yesterdays mtg. it seemed like all we did was talk about more ideas for things to do but we didn't actually make any decisions! i'm glad we have the ability to host a discussion on the judicial council thing, but we still haven't decided when we're going to be able to do that - it was sounding like there were going to be two other things going on around that time (which is going to be at the crunch point of the semester for everyone anyway). I'll let you know if I feel like you're slacking off, but right now i'm more worried about us trying to do too many things at once.

revhipchick said...

first of all, the drum major comment--all i meant was scale back, it was supposed to be a funny wink-wink, but that's the one thing that sucks about the net, there's no contextual help, no voice inflections, rolling of the eyes, no revealing body language. that's all--promise.

yes, i was frustrated at the meeting yesterday as well--i didn't feel like anything got accomplished. which is why i sent out those other emails. i think you're right about doing a lot, but i think we can handle it--really. it will help that i'm no longer full time and can be a better leader and sjc worker (hopefully anyway). but i know i will not continue next year. you just made it look far too easy last year!

i'm glad you notified alan--perhaps that or those persons had simply forgotten and all they will need is a little reminder. if not maybe we can set up a video camera in the affected areas and then nail them with the evidence! i don't know, maybe we could make them watch Brokeback Mountain, Torch Song Trilogy, Go Fish as both a punishment (given their position) and as education! just a thought, or we could simply kick their a** in the parking lot after class--oh yeah, that wouldn't be Christian would it?

rae's space said...

I don't mean for this to sound insincere or corny, but at the moment I'm pretty proud of you. I mean, you are trampling out your own path & by being visible & out, you give encouragement to those around you. Some of us couldn't or weren't strong enough to stay in seminary and follow our hearts. Those little moments of ministry are your witness. Peace & grace.