7 Quick Takes, Vol. 8

~1~

Last week, I skipped my quick takes because I had no interest in writing them. I feel no remorse for this (though I did appreciate Bob's prodding in that direction after the fact). No sense feeling beholden to something that is not actually an obligation. But I'm back for now.

~2~

I think I've driven away all my commenters by switching to writing about whatever I feel like. Or perhaps by my 11-month hiatus. If either of these are true, refrain from commenting to confirm my theory. :)

~3~

There really is something beautiful about walking places rather than driving. It's one of the things I will miss most about my current location whenever I move to another apartment (closely followed by living right behind the grocery store and bank). Not only does it provide a helpful minimum of exercise, but it puts you into contact with people in a way that's just completely lacking otherwise. Here in Atlanta, the folks you're walking past greet you, so I put on an enormous smile and greet them in return. There's just something warm and wonderful about pleasant interactions with strangers, in the midst of this world of isolation and commuting.

~4~

Hey look! I'm famous! Sort of...

As a follow-up to my conference presentation in January, the director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy asked me whether I'd be interested in cutting up that presentation into bite-sized pieces and joining the ranks of their bloggers. The twenty-first century unpaid equivalent of having my very own magazine column! Whoo hoo!

I finally got my introduction to Tim last month, and there it is: the first in what I project to be a 17-installment monthly series. That's right, I will continue to milk my master's thesis for a year and a half's worth of blog posts!

Over the next year or so, I intend to offer a guide through the millennia from creation to eternity—with a focus on the 20th century—to see in various ages what the Church has asked for regarding liturgy and what we gave to God in that respect. With that background, I will venture to offer practical applications for several more months, so as to encapsulate the relevance of this history to today’s churchgoers.

Oh, and I opened the post with a completely relevant Monty Python sketch. No idea how I'm going to match that for the second post, which will be on the Scriptural basis of our worship and the principle of sacramentality. (I'm accepting suggestions, especially either usable or absurd ones.)

~4b~

Speaking of Tim and ND, I've recommended his pieces to you before, and this one on ending the liturgy wars is no different. He's wonderfully balanced and well thought out. A glimpse:

The problem with liturgical politics (and the liturgy wars) is that it gradually suffocates this spirit of prayer.  Ironically, it turns liturgical prayer (a participation, ever so brief, in the heavenly peace of the city) into an act of war.  We grow to suspect that the hymn chosen at a particular celebration of the Eucharist is intended to communicate some implicit ideological theme.   We hear chant and assume that the music director is dialing back the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.  We “use” the liturgy to institute our own ideas of what reform should look like, rather than celebrating liturgical prayer as an authentic encounter with the living God.

Seriously, it's worth reading. If you have opinions about liturgy, that is.

~5~

I just heard a loud scream from elsewhere in my apartment complex. Was about to be concerned... and then  remembered this weekend is Halloween, observed. Never mind!

~6~

Went to a Georgia Tech football game this past weekend! It was a ton of fun. First, an entertaining photo from among the madness outside the stadium:

I snapped this during one of the very rare  moments when they
weren't posing with fans. Doesn't this just scream Atlanta!?

From where we sat in back of the student section (by choice), you could see some of the Atlanta skyline, which was pretty sweet.

Those buildings are all within half a mile of the
stadium, so it makes sense they're so visible,
but it was still darn cool to have that backdrop!

I also learned about a certain George P. Burdell, who's been a "student" at Georgia Tech since the 1920s.
The administration were glad to finally get him out of the system when they switched to digital student records in the 60s, only to have an enterprising student promptly hack into their systems and restore his records. He was recognized for something or other during the game; I didn't catch what. Anyway, students have been signing into classes and events as George P. Burdell for nearly a century, so legend has it that he's earned every degree Tech has to offer, among many other distinctions. Seriously, wander over to his Wikipedia page. It's entirely worth the five minutes it will take you to read it. :D

(Full disclosure: I couldn't get the Seton Hall Pirates' fight song out of my head the whole game...)

~7~

After the parish group photo (apparently "promptly at 2:00pm" means somewhere around 3) at the (annual?) parish picnic this past weekend...

I think if you click on this, it'll show you the full size photo.
I'm on the far left in front, close by the very pregnant lady.

A couple of the guys started cajoling me into playing soccer in the parish-wide kids vs adults game. Now, I go to a traddy parish. While I do own pants, I wasn't sure admitting that in front of the entire parish was a good idea. But the trouble was, I actually wanted to play. Of course, I was wearing a cute little skirt and blouse combo that wouldn't mix well with diving to save the ball, so their cajoling was all in vain...

Until one of the guys volunteered that I could borrow the pajama pants he keeps in his trunk (which fit me so well that other friends presumed they were mine). Done! Enter: Soccer game!

Aaaaaaand repetitions of this might explain some of those scrapes and
bruises that are still healing from 5 days ago...

In retrospect, I was the only woman on the adults team. But it was enormously fun, and I haven't lost as much of my goalkeeper skills as I'd feared. Turns out, my high school coaches trained me pretty well!

(More photos of the picnic/game here, in case you were wondering. There are some fun ones of Father playing soccer in his cassock. It's nice to have a parishioner who moonlights as a professional photographer!)

Anyway, joining Jen and the gang, better late than never. Until next week, or something like that!