Sitting here in class

I took NyQuil last night and now I feel groggy and I can't type!

Musings

So this was the week when I was able to speak with all of you one-on-one. It was great to get to know a little bit more about each of you. I am excited to learn even more as the semester goes on.

We have begun to talk about Ishmael. I'd have to say I have some major problems with the book. They speak against the creation story for one, which is okay as this is fairly common thought. But my real problem is that they then use the Bible for a historical document later in the book. It's a little troublesome to me that they would decry it on one hand and use it in the other.

The truly interesting part is that I'm teaching the creation story in Sunday school tomorrow. AND as part of the lesson we discuss how God created man to rule over the earth - quite along the lines of Ishmael actually (or against it depending on your view).

If only we were discussing service/leadership

It is many times frustrating to think through some of the things I find myself involved with. I'm wondering why I find it hard to say "No!" when I should definitely be saying that.

This week my son adds football to the mix of activities and I have been given the responsibility of heading up a group to analyze the bylaws and constitution of our church. How do I find myself getting roped into these things? I'll never know!

If any of you IS 101 folks are reading this, I want you to know how much I appreciate the chance to talk to you one-on-one this week. I look forward to discussing with you the lives you are putting together at Wartburg.

Jurassic Park

After our power failure on Friday, we were able to begin watching Jurassic Park finally! I have to say I like the movie so much better. It is in some ways frustrating to see the movie because the book just details everything in a much better way. But in the interest of the sanity of the class, I think it's fun to watch the movie. We are still able to pull the science out of the film, and it is interesting to see what they did with the movie.

On a side note, MC's new book should be coming out in November, and I just saw that Steven Spielberg is going to produce it into a film. The pairings between these two have always come out the best so I look forward to both of them!

In My Room

In the fall of 1989, Janell Zange arrived at Wartburg College, fresh from a life lived in Algonquin, Illinoios. With her she brought koala bedding she had purchased at a discount store, an alarm clock, 4 teal crates that doubled as a way to carry items and serve as shelves, a blue rug previously used by her brother, snapshots from home, a large white teddy bear, and a small stuffed dog. Being late in August, she carried clothes that were more suited for summer than for fall, hypothesizing that she wouldn't need anything warmer until Parent's weekend (she was wrong).

Knowing she was starting her career in college, her parents had furnished her with a credit card to use for emergency purposes only. This, she followed to the letter as she did so many other things. It was expected that she would follow all the rules (and she did mostly, except for that time when . . . . ). Oh and those 4 consecutive parking tickets from parking in the loading zone.

She brought with her a heavy expectation that she would finish college in four years time. She also brought with her stories and tales from her older siblings and their time in college. There was no question that she would finish college. Having 3 older siblings and parents who were educators, there didn't seem to be an option one way or the other. Some of her earliest memories were her parents saying, "When you go to college. . . ." There was never an "if."

That is not to say that there was ever a question in her mind that this is what she wanted. She carried with her the dreams from childhood of being a teacher. Memories of "playing school" in her bedroom linger to this day. It never seemed to be a stretch to her to major in elementary education with endorsements in science and reading. This was the plan and she would stick to it for the most part, adding a chemistry major in her second year at college.

Getting an education was only part of the dream she carried though. She also had her life planned out. She would get her degree, teach in a small community for a few years, where she would meet her husband. After a few years of teaching, she would start to work on her master's degree and eventually her Ed.D. so that she could teach future teachers in a college setting. There were no plans to marry the boyfriend she carried into college, a boyfriend that was picked up during the summer, a token grasp that somebody could like her besides the previous boy in her life.

It was in this room that she made new friends, developed a sense of who she really wanted to be, and learned some level of independence. It was in this room that she learned soon after coming to college that she had mono and would miss at least a week's worth of classes. It was in this room that the boyfriend wanted to date other people. It was in this room that she learned other boys could like her too. It was an amazing revelation.

In this room she carried her relief at having earned a scholarship. She carried the necessity to earn a 3.0 GPA each semester during her time at school. It was an additional relief that that goal was easily reached, despite a challenging courseload the first semester.

Beyond this room, she carried the memories of her first year at Wartburg. She still carries the memory of the dream where she realized she loved one Dan Wright, waking up and seeing a note on her door, signed "love" as well. Beyond this room, she still carries the memories of life's plan gone awry, but only for the better. She carries with her the friends that she made during her freshman year, the laughter and good times, and the chance to become who she always wanted to be.

Fall 2009

Dear IS 101 Students,

Welcome to the blogsite! Through this forum, I hope to create a larger format for discussion and journaling of our thoughts. We used this last year, and I found it to be a good system for sharing more deeply about the readings in class and the happenings in our lives.

Professor Wright

First Day of Class

Well, everybody,
We are through with Orange EXCELeration and ready to jump into IS 101. Hopefully, this will be a great forum in which to express our thoughts about the readings and content of the course. As you can tell, I was able to log in successfully to my account and have reset my password so hopefully the technical issues are over! The computer even worked in our class today, which was a true blessing.

Today we started to examine what it means to be a liberal learner. How does Giamatti's definition of being a liberal learner equate to what you have seen so far on the Wartburg campus? Do you think that the Wartburg Mission is attainable or too idealistic to achieve? Have you seen evidence that the mission of Wartburg is succeeding? It will be interesting to revisit these questions over time to investigate how your thoughts on these topics change.

Goodbye for now and I look forward to seeing you on Friday!