Melancholy Epiphany, Everyone!
I like Eliot’s Magi, poetic license and all. I like that the poem is haunted and melancholy. It’s been almost two weeks since Advent ended—away with the feasting and jollity, already.
Alissa Goudswaard Anderson (’10) lives with her husband Josh in New York City, where she is earning her Master of Divinity at General Theological Seminary. Alissa enjoys private kitchen dance parties, big Midwestern thunderstorms, and perusing other peoples’ bookshelves. For more, find her online at www.episcotheque.wordpress.com or tweet her @episcotheque.
Longing for Roots
So what do I have? I have my ancestors. I can’t visit them, anyway—most are long dead—so distance doesn’t matter. Still, though, this litany of names acts as a sort of symbolic rootedness.
What’s In A Name?
You can hyphenate your last name and your husband’s last name. You can take two last names. You can combine your last names into a new last name (for real, people do this).
When You’re In the Thick of It
As a student, especially as a student new to this community, this is a fast-evolving and confusing situation to be caught up in. I feel the need to guard what I say and be very careful with my words.
Let’s Do Brunch
Brunch implies slowing down, lingering over food with friends or family. It’s relaxed, unhurried. Everything the rest of the week, for many of us, is not.
Make Your Move
We’re moving to New York on the 18th. My parents are helping us with the move, because what guy wouldn’t want to spend the week after his wedding on a road trip with his in-laws?
Love Over Law
Reading it with a Christian lens, we can find interesting and compelling parallels to another story of a beloved son climbing a hill with wood on his back.
Scars AND Stories
Scars are the evidence of life—each one comes with a story, and an abundance of stories is, arguably, one of the best evidences of a life well lived.
Tale As Old As Time
The thing is, though, this mode of taking in the world is really tiring. It’s healthy, and it’s stretching, and it brings perspective, but it’s tiring.
Ode to Rainy Mornings
And then, finally, it came: a few days above freezing, and then a glorious morning when I wake slowly from a deep, sound sleep to a dull, grey morning.
We Have Now
Ash Wednesday is a reminder of mortality, as everyone—senior citizens and newborns alike—is reminded of an impending return to dust and ash.
When Life Gets Crazy, Make Spaghetti Squash*
My life didn’t become any less crazy after making spaghetti squash, just like it didn’t become any less crazy after eating ramen for lunch four days in a row.
Eating Pig Face
So, in one sense, I broke my New Year’s resolution before I even made it to February. But I still did a lot. So if that’s failing, I’ll be happy to fail again this year.
Come (cont’d)
I love the way Advent meshes with the changing seasons in my Northern-Hemisphere home. The air takes on a crisp chill and the scent of snow. Dark comes early and the nights are the longest of the year.
A Place for Imagination
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that my faith has been saved by re-welcoming my imagination, integrating my creative and intellectual sides.
![Discern [My] Own Adventure](https://thepostcalvin.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/photo-31-1080x674.jpg)
Discern [My] Own Adventure
Discernment is hard work. I wish it were as easy as marking off a checklist. The hard part is the careful self-examination, the perseverance, the curiosity, the strain to hear that still, small voice.
Pretty as a Peach Pie
I lingered over the sultry sweetness of that slice of pie…and then had peach pie and hot black coffee for breakfast three mornings in a row.
Roots
The years after college are, from what I’ve seen, uprooted ones. College is a liminal space, to be sure, but after graduation, defining one’s place can be even harder.
In Community
Something about studying words at Calvin was special. The camaraderie and community among faculty, staff, and students in the department was tangible. I was taught, but I was also nurtured.
