I'm sitting here in the library typing up my exit memo for Southeast Ohio magazine (the winter issue is in the can and will be going to press soon) and I realized: This is my last college assignment. It could be my last school assignment, ever, if I don't get a graduate assistantship at KSU. Did that ever turn on the tears! I am going to miss being a student so much.
The truth is that I hate, hate, HATE change. When I first arrived in Athens three years and three months ago, I loathed the place. I didn't know anybody, or the city; I had to come out of my shell ever-so-slightly; I was a "baby" revert Catholic who hadn't been Confirmed and who hadn't been to Confession in years; I had to make sure to perform exceptionally well academically, if I wanted to have any prayer of getting into the Scripps School. A few years later, I've made great friends, I love Athens, and I'm even sort of getting a kick out of my journalism and academic work. I do adjust to things well. But at the beginning of every new change, I get that kicked-in-the-gut, I-just-want-to-crawl-back-in-bed feeling. That is what I've got, now. Pray for me, please :)
I do have non-angsty, non-emo news to share, ha ha. Last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a Fan into Flame retreat with some of my friends from Catholic Student Outreach. It was essentially a Catholic charismatic retreat, complete with praise & worship music, "expressive" prayer, and people being baptized in the Holy Spirit and praying in tongues, etc. I enjoyed myself very much, not to mention that I think it was very beneficial for me, spiritually. It was wonderful to see so many young people so in love with the Faith.
I have to say that the charismatic culture is definitely Not My Style. I am very much a traditionalist - bring on the Latin, the chant, the incense and contemplative prayer, please! But I now have greater respect for the charismatic movement within the Catholic Church. The majority seem very orthodox, and many are considering religious vocations. I already had my "conversion experience" years ago, and it happened in a much more conventional, traditional way; nevertheless, I can see how someone who has never had that... for lack of a better term, "born again" experience in their lives could really latch on to the charismatic movement (there is always the danger, of course, of one's religious life becoming entirely emotion-based, but
many of the people I have spoken to seem aware of such possible pitfalls). It's not for me, but if it helps other Catholics grow in their faith, then more power to them.
On Wednesday night I attended The Post's winter quarter All Staff meeting, and I received a number of awards: Best Columnist, Most Improved Copy Editor, etc. Then the editors (who know I am graduating) gave me a mock-up of a front page of the paper. The headline was "Spirituality Columnist Leaves On Top." The "news stories" were all little notes from people on staff congratulating me and telling me I did a good job. It was the sweetest thing ever. As my Copy Chief, Jeff Smith said, "This is turning into a love fest for Maggie Kostendt." I am wondering to myself if they gave me all of those awards just because they knew I was leaving and they wished to make a big show, or because I really deserved them. My roommate Jenn says it was probably a combination of both ;)
Anyway, I really appreciated it. If I ever win the lotto, I will make sure to earmark some of the cash for the betterment of The Post's news operation (not that they'll need it for a while, what with them getting a fancy new high-tech newsroom in the brand-new student center. Incidentally, the Editor in Chief announced that the members of the staff are getting raises for next quarter - I would leave just before the money train arrives.).
All of this was the "news" I mentioned in the blog post below - I finally caught a minute to write!
Oh,and my finals went all right, but I am freaking out a bit over whether I am going to keep my GPA above 3.8 - I really don't want to have to update my resume. Ora pro me St. Jude.
Showing posts with label Catholic Student Outreach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catholic Student Outreach. Show all posts
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Bowling for... bowling pins
What a wonderful thing it is to have a blog when one wants to take a break from one's mostly fruitless column-writing!
This weekend was quite a bit of fun, in spite of the fact that I again got very little accomplished academically. The best part was Sunday Mass, of course. The second best part was on Friday, when I got to spend some time with my friends from Catholic Student Outreach.
First, I got to spend the morning with Kate; after daily Mass she made me some delicious chocolate-chip pancakes for breakfast at her apartment (mm mm). Then around 5 o'clock, she and Andrew and I went bowling. As you can imagine, my score was very, very low, but I still had lots of fun! I also managed to get my thumb temporarily stuck in one of the bowling balls. Oops. It came out, obviously, but not before a bit of a hullabaloo! ;)
Other stops included New To You, the Athens Book Center, and the steps of St. Paul's, where I accidentally insulted Kate by saying I wouldn't want to live anywhere rural. She wasn't actually insulted, of course.
Later in the evening we met up with some other folks from CSO at the Donkey coffeehouse and played Scrabble. My longest word was "marsh." While there, we met this interesting Athens, Greece-born kid named Tele, who played with us. From the "real" Athens to Athens, Ohio, what an interesting journey that must have been.
All in all, I'd say this is the kind of weekend I'm going to miss when I graduate.
This weekend was quite a bit of fun, in spite of the fact that I again got very little accomplished academically. The best part was Sunday Mass, of course. The second best part was on Friday, when I got to spend some time with my friends from Catholic Student Outreach.
First, I got to spend the morning with Kate; after daily Mass she made me some delicious chocolate-chip pancakes for breakfast at her apartment (mm mm). Then around 5 o'clock, she and Andrew and I went bowling. As you can imagine, my score was very, very low, but I still had lots of fun! I also managed to get my thumb temporarily stuck in one of the bowling balls. Oops. It came out, obviously, but not before a bit of a hullabaloo! ;)
Other stops included New To You, the Athens Book Center, and the steps of St. Paul's, where I accidentally insulted Kate by saying I wouldn't want to live anywhere rural. She wasn't actually insulted, of course.
Later in the evening we met up with some other folks from CSO at the Donkey coffeehouse and played Scrabble. My longest word was "marsh." While there, we met this interesting Athens, Greece-born kid named Tele, who played with us. From the "real" Athens to Athens, Ohio, what an interesting journey that must have been.
All in all, I'd say this is the kind of weekend I'm going to miss when I graduate.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Thump... thump
Yes, indeed, my heart is still beating and I am still breathing. Sorry for the lack of updates.
Bishop Conlon visited our county this week, and he celebrated the Sunday Mass at St. Paul's. The homily was excellent; he noted the phenomenon of people saying that they do not understand the Church's teaching, when in fact it's simply a matter of not wanting to accept the Church's teaching. I received the Holy Eucharist from his hands both on Sunday and at daily Mass on Thursday, which he concelebrated with our parish priest.
Catholic Student Outreach has been fun, too; it's wonderful and very encouraging to know a bunch of girls who share my values. Who'da thunk it, on OU's campus?
My mother recently received a letter from my sister, Sister Elizabeth. She sounds wonderfully happy in the convent. My mother cried because Sister Elizabeth addressed her as "Mama" in the letter. Mothers can be funny sometimes :)
No blog post would be complete without a link to my latest column. So here it is, enjoy.
Bishop Conlon visited our county this week, and he celebrated the Sunday Mass at St. Paul's. The homily was excellent; he noted the phenomenon of people saying that they do not understand the Church's teaching, when in fact it's simply a matter of not wanting to accept the Church's teaching. I received the Holy Eucharist from his hands both on Sunday and at daily Mass on Thursday, which he concelebrated with our parish priest.
Catholic Student Outreach has been fun, too; it's wonderful and very encouraging to know a bunch of girls who share my values. Who'da thunk it, on OU's campus?
My mother recently received a letter from my sister, Sister Elizabeth. She sounds wonderfully happy in the convent. My mother cried because Sister Elizabeth addressed her as "Mama" in the letter. Mothers can be funny sometimes :)
No blog post would be complete without a link to my latest column. So here it is, enjoy.
Friday, September 08, 2006
J'accuse
Myself, for not updating more often. But I have excuses!
This quarter is shaping up to be the mind-melter I suspected it would be. A fun mind-melter, mind you. Eh, that's quite a mouthful.
So far I have had one column printed in The Post, and today they printed a positive letter from a reader; they don't have the column online yet, or I would link to it. Alas, you will just have to wait.
I have had one night of copy editing, but they only let me read one story. It was a somewhat amusing piece about the new mascot - the old Bobcat was a friendly-looking fellow, while the costume of the new Bobcat makes him look very intimidating and... Hungry. It was a late night, 2 o'clock in the morning, and there was a lot of downtime - but I'm told that probably won't happen again (the downtime, not the late night!).
I have yet to find out what my staff assignment is on Southeast Ohio Magazine, but I'd really rather copy edit than write. I had an interview with the Managing Editor and the Editor-in-Chief yesterday, and I got the distinct impression that they wish I would write - gulp! Since generally people are assigned to two staffs, I would be willing to do both the copy staff and the writing staff, if I was assigned smallish articles.
I am trying to get a hold of the naturalist with the Hocking Hills State Park in my quest to find out some dates for the regional calander we publish in the magazine, but we have thus far elevated phone-tagging to an art form.
And today at daily Mass, a nice young girl named Kate came up to me and informed me that she is starting a little Catholic group on campus, and would I like to come to the ice cream social? Indeed, I would.
As you can see, I am already busy, busy, busy, and it's just the start of the quarter. This is not an apologia for a lack of updates, just an explanation. I will probably not be able to udpate daily again until after I graduate at Thanskgiving time, but I'll be sure to post some things at least a few times a week. After all, with all this stuff going on, I'm sure I'll find I need a way to vent... ;)
This quarter is shaping up to be the mind-melter I suspected it would be. A fun mind-melter, mind you. Eh, that's quite a mouthful.
So far I have had one column printed in The Post, and today they printed a positive letter from a reader; they don't have the column online yet, or I would link to it. Alas, you will just have to wait.
I have had one night of copy editing, but they only let me read one story. It was a somewhat amusing piece about the new mascot - the old Bobcat was a friendly-looking fellow, while the costume of the new Bobcat makes him look very intimidating and... Hungry. It was a late night, 2 o'clock in the morning, and there was a lot of downtime - but I'm told that probably won't happen again (the downtime, not the late night!).
I have yet to find out what my staff assignment is on Southeast Ohio Magazine, but I'd really rather copy edit than write. I had an interview with the Managing Editor and the Editor-in-Chief yesterday, and I got the distinct impression that they wish I would write - gulp! Since generally people are assigned to two staffs, I would be willing to do both the copy staff and the writing staff, if I was assigned smallish articles.
I am trying to get a hold of the naturalist with the Hocking Hills State Park in my quest to find out some dates for the regional calander we publish in the magazine, but we have thus far elevated phone-tagging to an art form.
And today at daily Mass, a nice young girl named Kate came up to me and informed me that she is starting a little Catholic group on campus, and would I like to come to the ice cream social? Indeed, I would.
As you can see, I am already busy, busy, busy, and it's just the start of the quarter. This is not an apologia for a lack of updates, just an explanation. I will probably not be able to udpate daily again until after I graduate at Thanskgiving time, but I'll be sure to post some things at least a few times a week. After all, with all this stuff going on, I'm sure I'll find I need a way to vent... ;)
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