spade and parade

Well after winter in Boston (which is still raging) and spring break in Virginia a determination must be made: My first winter in Boston brought the most snow (55.2 inches) since 1978. My first spring break in Virginia brought the most snow (a paltry 6 - 7 inches) since 1981. And, on my first day back to Boston the temperature dropped about 30 degrees and started dumping wintry mix all over the place. So, 1) it's all meteorological coincidence 2) global warming and weather patterns are converging with #1 for severe winters; or 3) I have superhuman influence over the weather a la Storm from the X-Men. I'm leaning towards #3 but it's a tough call.

I did have a very good time in Virginia over the last ~2 weeks. I spent most of time spending time with my extended, and now more extensive, family. If somehow you don't already know, my older brother Andrew and his wife Amy gained an addition to their family in the form of my kick ass nephew Brodie Cash Day. Brodie was born February 26 at 7:30 PM weighing in at 9 lbs 4 oz and 21 inches long. He is a wonderful being and I am blessed to have been able to experience his first days and weeks on this planet. For reasons of motivation I'm not going to post any pictures in this, but you can find a plethora on Amy's facebook site. Check them out! He's a a beautiful baby.

In matters of less though still strong importance, I only have 6 weeks left this semester. WTF! I still have 3 lengthy research papers to write and one fairly basic test to prepare for. I am still floundering on paper ideas, so if there are any Hegel scholars reading this please illumine this bit of obfuscation. I am throwing around a few preliminary ideas: 1) to examine Hegel's treatment and eventual refutation of empiricism and scepticism via his Logic, or to examine the concluding problem of the Logic in which the Absolute (Truth) of Religion becomes equated with Experience, which is a big no-no for idealism. Well, I just had an epiphany (which coincidentally for Levinas represents a manifestation of the divine) and maybe I will combine both ideas and topple both empiricism and religion in Hegel's Logic. Could work.

In my Aquinas class my professor wants me to write on the the intersection of philosophy and religion via the roles of the philosopher and theologian. There is an obvious supercession of theology over philosophy in the work of Aquinas (he is famously quoted saying that "philosophy is the handmaiden to theology") which I heartily disagree with, though it will take some eloquent arguments to clearly and persuasively tease the two apart. He wants me to take that idea and couple it with the idea of the recent theological turn in French phenomenology. I think it can be done, just will require some reading.

Lastly, in my Hospitality class, I am either going to revise and expand my essay on disorientation or write an essay on natural hospitality, or hospitality to nature inspired by Emerson's writing.

Whatever I end up doing, it's going to be a lot of work and I am so glad that I am starting a new, less stressful, less demanding job tomorrow because I am going to be reading and writing at breakneck speed. As with last semester I will post updates, snippets, and ongoing ideas as they develop regarding these projects.

-Philip