Required reading.

I subscribe to a daily journal called Inside Higher Ed. This journal is dedicated to any news about higher education (college) in the U.S. and Canada. The other day I came across this article that I've so graciously linked for you (I love me when I do that, don't you!?). If you don't want to read it, that's fine I'll tell you what it is about. The article talks about how some school require incoming freshman to all read a specific book that the school chooses. They say it fosters community and gets the academic juices flowing. What I want to know from you, is what books have you read during your schooling (if it's been awhile since school, don't worry, you can still participate!) that you would require your incoming freshman class to read? I look forward to seeing what you put down!


http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/04/books

Thoughts on Catholicism

Every student needs a teacher. I would like to take this time to introduce you to one of my teachers. His name is Stephen Colbert. He has so graciously furnished me with a book in which he shares all of his thoughts, feelings, and essential truths that he lives by. From time to time, I would like to re - post some of his greater lessons. *WARNING* If you are offended by joking, satire, or general humor, please LIGHTEN UP!

The Great Colbert, on the Roman Catholic Church
(Stephen Colbert's views do not necessarily represent my views on any or all subject matter. All punctuation and capitalization styles are the original intent of the author).

Jesus founded only One Church and it wasn't Unitarian. He took His apostle Simon and made him into a rock and built a church on him. It's called "the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church," or "Church" for short.

Catholics have many advantages over other Christians. One is marble. For the buck I put into the collection plate, I want some production value. that means a church, not some community center that doubles as a basketball court.

Also, Catholics have saints -- more than 10,000 of them. They're like God's customer service reps, and each of them has a specialty. Say you lose your wallet. You could bother the Creator to help you find it, but if your Catholic, you don't have to. Just pray to St. Anthony. Finding lost things is all he does. For Eternity. Also, there are times when you might want to pray to St. Agatha. She's the patron saint of nursing and bell -making. If you're both a nurse and a bell - maker, that's one - stop shopping.

Some are put off by the labyrinthine structure of Catholic dogma, but many of its rituals are quite beautiful, and not just when edited together as a tense, poetic counterpoint to brutal Mafia films.

But maybe you're not ready to be a Roman Catholic. Well, as the saying goes, "There are many roads to God." Some are just more twisty than others. So if you want to get a little needless exercise, why don't you try one of these Goat Paths to Nowhere?

The Way of Improvement Leads Home.

For the past couple months, I have been contemplating what it means to pursue an education. Is it simply the required schooling until you are 18 and then four more years to pursue a bachelor's degree? Or is there something else I am missing? I have tried to grasp what a true education should look like. I can safely say that I am further along in my pursuit, and yet at the same time, nowhere near completion. I have read books outside of a required syllabi, blog posts on history, and shared numerous lunch conversations with faculty and students, actions which have led me to realize something. For me, education is not just a means to a job. It is a lifestyle of constantly seeking improvement. My pursuit of education is to better myself and to prepare myself to be a citizen of the world around me. I have had the privilege of reading a book recently by Dr. Jon Fea Ph.D. (Check out his blog here!) who is a professor of American History over at Messiah college in Pennsylvania. His book, "The Way of Improvement Leads Home", details the life of Philip Vickers Fithian, a New Jersey man who is on his own quest for improvement. The challenges that Fithian must go through in order to achieve his education have illuminated my own path and inspired me to press on. Fithian does not stop after his formal education is over. He corresponds with others, he debates, he continues to read and record his thoughts on what he has read. Fithian represents something that is lost today. Philip Vickers Fithian is a man who pursued improvement for improvements sake. This pursuit and understanding is something I have been struggling with for about a year. My struggle for improvement, is the reason this blog exists. I hope any readers of this blog, will continue to follow me on my journey and maybe, just maybe, they will decide that it's a journey that they would like to be a part of themselves.