Greetings, Summertime Sojourners!
Well, it’s been a while! The last time my fingers graced the keyboard with intent of typing a blog post was way back in February, and since then–surprise–life has not stopped having things for me to do, and I have not stopped doing them. That is, I have been doing most of them; that is to say, most of them–minus writing things here.
But school is over, I am firmly ensconced at home at our dining room table (that esteemed piece of furniture which we are soon selling), and I have determined not to move until I have properly provided a summary of the last three months.
Freshman year classes at NSA. Over and done. What a ride! I am still eagerly awaiting my grade for the Lordship paper I wrote on baptism (poor TA, he has about 81 essays to grade, which equates to roughly 1,000 pages). However, I’ve performed pretty well in everything else, all things considered. And with everything finished and behind me, it’s time to offer my glowing reviews of all the courses. Pardon the lack of paragraph breaks.
LATIN: Splendid. Truly a delight. This is NSA’s most well-done freshman course, and time and time again we have all told them not to change anything. In one year, we cover material that often takes other people three to five years to cover. By this time, we know around 98% of all Latin grammar; and truly the only reason that none of us are fluent is because we simply don’t know all the vocabulary in the Latin language. Semi-fluent, however, would I think be an accurate description. Over the year we in honors read through two original works in Latin by Mr. Griffith our professor (he who writes the national Latin exams, I might add) and by the end of the year, we had covered so much material that he and Mr. Harris were writing and printing chapters of the newest textbook for us to read week-by-week…that is, until our progress outstripped their ability to get us the chapters on time. Now that it’s summertime, we are able to read Latin in our free time; and so I have procured myself a Psalter, a Vulgate (in whose pages there is nary a jot nor a tittle of punctuation), and Harrius Potter (which I never have, nor ever will, read in English). Reading on my own is going well so far, as, again, I am familiar with the grammar; however there are frequent stops to look up vocabulary words in the dictionary.
RHETORIC: Another splendidly-done class. Mr. Pinkall (and Mr. Goode!) has transformed us from shy, wobbly, quiet-voiced speakers to outgoing, firm, loudly-declaiming speakers. Those who had speech impediments have lost them–a transformation I witnessed myself–and those who were already good speakers are now superb. There is truly nothing like the feeling of arriving to your rhetoric final, being handed a paper with an argument prompt/case that you’ve never seen before, and then having 5 minutes to prepare a speech of 3-6 minutes. And then making a good grade on said impromptu speech. It’s amazing. This year Mr. Pinkall handled all of the rhetoric students, but next year the course is going to be split between him and Dr. Rigney, much in the way this year’s
LORDSHIP* class was split between Dr. Rigney and Dr. Longshore. I took Dr. Rigney’s class, which is obviously superior, and so I do not have feedback to offer about Dr. Longshore’s. The rivalry between the Rignites and Longshoremen is heated and fierce. Dr. Rigney, however, is one of the best and most clear professors out there. 2-hour lectures often feel like 30-minute lectures. Nothing compares to his voices and accents and dramatic flourishes when he reads through huge chunks of scripture (it’s truly a sight to behold). Lordship was, by far, the most intellectually enlightening (yikes, that sounds pretentious) class we took this year.
*Lordship = theology
MUSIC: Music is harder to review, since it’s split into sections: Music history, music theory, aural skills, and choir/vocal tech. As a grand review on behalf of the class: most people are apathetic/irritated towards MH; most people feel fine about MT; most people hate AS; and most people love Choir. As for History: we love Mr. Esmond. He singlehandedly brought 6 7 into the freshman vernacular; he says things like “cringe”, “lock in”, and “rad”; he throws the occasional gang sign, and he’s also the best pianist at NSA. We love the guy. It’s his first year teaching, though, which lent itself to occasional assignment mixups and unclearness (unclarity?). Nothing too bad though. As for Theory: Dr. Tutino is the goat. He told us on the first day that we were to call him Dr. T; he likes Dr. Pepper; he only writes with a particular kind of pencil; and he calls Populi “Pop-oo-li” in a very endearing way. Music theory, that great subject which often confuses the most eager of minds, he explains in a crystal-clear and simple manner conducive to success. As for Aural Skills: again, we love Dr. Erb (and his interpretive dances). But the aural skills quizzes are the bane of our existence. I failed every one second term (but made A’s on every one third term, so it’s all right in the end). It’s hard to explain in writing, so I’ll leave it at that. And lastly, Choir: If you’ve never sang in a choir before, you need to. It’s so fun, you will learn so much, and be able to sing!! Highly recommend. And if you’re coming to NSA, make sure to go audition. Every year.
So there you have it, a somewhat less-thorough-than-I’d-usually-be review of all this year’s classes. They were great!
Next year I’ll be taking mathematics, history, law and politics, Latin, and potentially auditing something-or-other. Unfortunately I did not make it into Greek, which I hoped to take in addition to Latin; I’ll have to wait one more year for that.
Usually I’d provide accounts of various exploits which happened at or around school, but unfortunately most of them are so long (“long”) past by now that I can’t remember any good ones off the top of my head. So, I’ll satisfy myself by sharing some pictures I’ve taken recently.
Tulips in Moscow; lilacs in Moscow; NSA South Campus building (also in Moscow!)
Palouse; view from my backyard deck; same view, different day
Cool storm picture I took while running errands; same view from back window
Well, that’s about all I have to say this time. I’ll probably forget about this again and not write for a while, but I might also remember and write regularly. Who knows.
Valete!
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