I love Donne! First encountered him deeply in CPE when we watched “Wit”, a movie based on a play, where the main character is a Donne scholar!

And as always, thank you for supporting your library!

So yeah, would love to know what yall think! (And nope, I cannot change my mind at this point cause this is my final “exam” is based on multiple assignments I’ve turned in before this) ⚓️

Basically: what resources do you wish someone had told you about or reminded you of that would’ve helped you study for and answer the exams? Again, I’m relying heavily on my own seminary training but, for example, I barely touched worship studies past the last 3 weeks of my preaching class. ⚓️

Here is where I need y’all’s help: For those who have taken GOEs (or grade them @karanslade.bsky.social) what would you want to see on a library’s guide to exam prep? I’m basing mine somewhat on the public guide from Seminary of the Southwest, including utilizing tabs for each subject. ⚓️

So I may have mentioned this before but I’m creating a LibGuide based around GOE prep utilizing Vanderbilt’s Library resources for a class project. However, I am not terribly qualified to discuss GOE prep beyond my own non-Episcopal-seminary training in the subject areas addressed. ⚓️

What’s everyone’s experiences with battling against the idea that one has to work hard enough to deserve rest? Gonna talk about it in therapy this week and would love to know how everyone else has encountered this ideology. Open to theological opinions but also personal ones.

Oh for sure. I moved back home to NC and literally have like 2 friends locally. I like my clergy and keep up with some folks from college and seminary but as far as “my people”…it’s been a challenge.

I also hate that I feel like a burden on my clergy to ask them to talk about it and right now I can barely make time for such talks with them or my spiritual director because school and two jobs means I’m just too tired to deal with it most days. Idk. I empathize cause this is tough stuff. ❤️

I’m here as well which is not fun to admit for someone who once, maybe still might, pursued ordination. Not that my “faith” is absent but my attention to it has waned heavily. I can’t seem to find “my people” at church and the Divine seems to be just out of reach most days. It’s been tough.

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So apparently my mother’s Catholic Church does purgatory talk? Like the prayer list always includes “all souls in purgatory”. Even in Catholic school a decade ago I had teachers telling us Purgatorio wasn’t widely accepted anymore but maybe I’m mistaken? Anyone know what the Catholics teach now?

Like damn betting on the world’s events but that new Kalishi ad is dark…bordering on “edgelord” tbh.

I genuinely think my lack of hobbies is generally tied to my fatigue. Like it’s 8 PM on a Friday and I genuinely feel like I could have gone to bed even an hour ago. I want to watch baseball but I genuinely can’t keep my eyes open. What kind of hobbies can one have with these kind of energy levels?

Makes me think of all the antiwar rock and metal I’ve been listening to lately…BYOB by SOAD, all of Lamb of God’s “Ashes” record. Sabbath’s “War Pigs”…it’s all just very…hard to think about tbh.

I’ve taken a break from my heavier reads in favor of an Appalachia cookbook. I feel you on the brain fry. I did a bunch of discussion posts and re-did my CV this afternoon after work and my brain is like warm pudding at the moment.

I remember realizing this in my seminary ethics class and uh…yeah. Changed my world view quite a bit tbh.

I really need to read this! I need to organize my TBR list cause this is definitely high on that list!

Would it be a cop out to say Chrysostom?? That said, the writing I would say did this the most for me was Dix’s “Shape of Liturgy” but that’s apparently a contentious text.

Deo Gratias for you Mtr Kira! Your ministry here has been a dear gift to me to know that’s someone’s been where I’ve been and still found hope.

Into Oblivion by Lamb of God: After the singles, I was expecting a bit more but honestly, still a banger of an album! It hits on most fronts I want it to hit on. I honestly just find myself going back to earlier records more these days because…politics. But yeah! Great record nonetheless! 7/10!

Something From Nothing by Alison Roman: Amazing cookbook! Read it cover to cover like I normally do for cookbooks and she had me laughing and thinking hard the whole way. 10/10 for Alison Roman’s latest cookbook!

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell: Meh? I’m not too far into it and maybe it’s the audiobook narrator but I just don’t get it yet. Maybe I need to give it time. 6/10 so far…but we’ll see if that improves.

Lonely Is The Muse by Halsey: Where to begin with this record?? My goodness! Heavy handed in its ideas and metaphors from top to bottom but absolutely soul crushing and tear jerking in the best way. Halsey knows how to do it and they do it so well. 10/10 record!

Kiss All The Time, Disco Occasionally by Harry Styles: I quite enjoy this record. It’s lively when it needs to be and subtle in other places. Overall 9/10 for a solid record from Harry!

Picture of the cover of Ottessa Moshfegh’s “Lapvona” showing a renaissance era painting of a sheep

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh: First of all, severe content warnings aplenty for this entire book. I’m about 1/3 of the way through and it’s already quite heavy. But very much enjoying it aside from that fact? The characters are unlikable in the best ways and the writing is well done.

So I read a lot. Mostly non fiction. I also listen to lots of music. Mainly metal, but I love a good pop album. And I wanted to highlight some recent books and records I’ve enjoyed lately! A thread 🧵

I’d also unironically recommend an acting/improv class. You’ll learn projection, inflection, and all those things that way. Seriously. My theater background from HS and college helped my preaching tremendously.

I’d absolutely second what most are saying here and just…listen to various preachers. Alongside reading books by them, LISTEN to folks like Taylor, Craddock, Theresa Fry Brown, etc. Not everyone’s style is going to be for you and, for what it’s worth, YOUR style is going to be its own.

My preaching class wasn’t one specific textbook but rather chapters from various texts! I second The Preaching Life for sure!

No caffeine after 2 PM and no naps today before my sleep study means I’m going to be crabby the rest the day 😭