I've been back in Oberlin for about two weeks now, working at the admissions office. I've met some pretty neat prospective students. Whoever thought "fearless" would totally change the demographic of students applying to Oberlin was off their nut.

The National Council of Churches Faith and Order Conference in Oberlin went down last week. I was fully expecting to be reminded just how much of a
low church/congregational polity fan I am, but I was not expecting the
number of people on panels reading papers full of high churchy and academic jargon. In short, it was a lot of creed and a lot of tweed. It concerned me how disconnected the
papers were from the practical realities of living ecumenically. A lot
of the discussion centered on theories of ecumenism, which I often found
somewhat behind my own experience of relating to people of both
different denominations and different faiths. It made it difficult for
me to wrap my mind around questions like, for example, does pursuing
interfaith dialogue interfere with Faith and Order's ability to work for
"visible Christian unity?" Since to some degree both tasks are simply
unavoidable parts of my everyday life experience, I don't understand how
they could be at odds. I also found I was much more comfortable with the idea of there being no overarching Truth that applies to everyone than many of the older (50+) members of
the conference.

I also felt like the ecumenical and interfaith dialogue that I am
currently defining myself within was rarely present in the dialogues
they were talking about. I'm defining myself within the crossroads of
racial, faith, and sexual identity. My denominational identity, if
anything, is subordinate to these.

I was actually surprised how many white men were presenting. Out of
about twenty-five presenters, there were only three women and perhaps
five people who weren't white. There would have been four, but
Jacquelyn Grant couldn't make it at the last minute. I was more than a
little disappointed, since I was looking forward to her presentation
more than anyone else's.

We were told in orientation that we were not there to represent
ourselves, but our denominations. Luckily, I avoided the complex
ethical question that presents because my denomination has no beliefs of
its own. Later on, though, a National Baptist minister in my discussion
group pointed out how we were being asked to separate our denominational
identities from our personal identities. As an African-American woman,
she could not separate the history of her people from her theology, and
her cultural identity and religious identity were similarly inseparable.

I had a delightful conversation with an Australian scholar named Jione
Havea. He gave a presentation about viewing the Bible as storytelling,
a la Kwok Pui-lan and Musa Dube. He affirmed my suspicion that a Watson
Fellowship might not best suit my goals for going abroad.

I learned that the proper term for denominations that don't play well
with others, like Assembly of God, Southern Baptist Convention, and
Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, is "ecumenically cautious." I also
learned that Hebrew is easier to learn than Greek because Hebrew
translates directly into ebonics: "God be in this place."

I agree with Kathryn about Daniel Radcliffe, though I must say, I'm quite partial to Rupert Grint myself. In fact, I recently watched Driving Lessons, which is a very Harold and Maude-like movie from 2006 that Rupert is in with Julie Walters (who also plays Molly Weasley). It was pretty good.

I've (sort of) found a job! I've been working at the Metrodome, the stadium where the Minnesota Twins (and Vikings) play. It's been okay. For some reason they scheduled me to work Friday night, but I've expressed that I'm not available. There will be no Bethany Draeger in existence Friday evening, only Charlie Weasley. Needless to say, I'm psyched.

Speaking of awesome Harry Potter-related events, on Monday my dad, brother and I went down to Minneapolis and saw Harry and the Potters live! WOO! It was awesome. They're really funny guys, and they were really happy to see so many wizards and Muggles rocking together. We decided that Voldemort never went to rock concerts. Apparently, 7th year Harry inherited his guitar from James via Dumbledore, who used to go and see James' band play in the basement of Hogwarts every weekend, back in James' school days. 4th year Harry inherited Lily's tenor saxophone (she played in the school band). I was worried that they didn't have music classes at Hogwarts. Now I feel better.

I've still got to reread Half-Blood Prince, and knit a few various things before Friday. And make some Chocolate Frogs. Perhaps I'll bring the frog molds to school with me this fall, and we can get some chocolate from Gibsons, melt it down, and pretend to have visited Honeydukes.

My mother is coming home today from Maine. She's been visiting her mum and two of her brothers. They went on a puffin watching trip a couple of days ago! Too bad she forgot the camera.

If you want to watch the Harry Potter movie completely without bias, don't read this....

I declare that Daniel Radcliffe is now officially old enough to be eye candy. I sympathize with the decision to cut out most of the Harry and Cho relationship, but unfortunately it precludes the possibility of creating a decent "Human Hosepipe" fan video for youtube. I was a little disappointed by Harry's general lack of Emo-ness. I was hoping for some truly inspiring angst.

University Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX wrote a show called Taize: The Musical. Thereby combining two of my favorite things ever.

Oh the awesomeness. Words fail me.

Happy Independence Day, Linden!

Unfortunately, it's too late to wish the same to Kathryn, seeing as how it's 1:50 A.M. CST/2:50 EST. So... happy Thursday? I hope your Independence Day was enjoyable and that your neighbors aren't setting off fireworks right now. I think mine have (finally) stopped for tonight. Not that the one's they're shooting off are even legal in Minnesota...

I got a new retainer. It's bright pink with orange polka dots. It makes my mouth happy.

I've decided that whenever I lose the connection when talking to someone on a cell phone, it's because the person suddenly had to fight a demon.

It takes away the frustration.