Biking to school in the morning is not as fun as it used to be (when it was still decently unfrigid). Since daylight savings kicked in a few weeks ago, the sun has been a plus in my morning rides to school, either to attend the Introductory Biology class I am TAing, or to teach my 8:00am lab. That has been quite the adventure this semester. Overall, it has been a good learning experience, but kind of frustrating at the same time. I don't remember being as irresponsible or whiny of a freshman as my students are here. Maybe I am babying them too much, but due to their lack of ability to 'follow directions', a lot of them are getting zeroes or losing points they really really could use. Oh well. It could be worse. I could be in their shoes, having to do college all over again. :) Some of them are kind of funny, and crack me up. Like the kid who, knowing that I work with plants, told me (and the class) "Having to do a Plant Diversity lab is like the lowest point you can get in a semester." hahahaha, wait 'til you hit taxonomy, kid. I don't know--it just gets tiring fighting with kids for every point and a half. As a typical "B" student, if I got a bad grade, I usually assumed it was because I hadn't studied enough (which was usually the case). I have a lot of pre-med students who tell me "I can't get a C--I'm pre-med!" I'm not quite sure how the logic works there, but I respond with a blank stare, trying to convey the message, "Oh, but look on your paper--what letter is that?"
Anyway, enough about students. Research has come to a halt since, oh wait, I still have no 'data' to speak of. I have been writing a grant proposal for the last few months, and though the proposal itself is only supposed to be 2 pages, including references, my proposal has been ever-evolving, and I swear, I have gone through about 7-8 versions of the same thing. It started out as a proposal to try to culture my fungi (something that hasn't been done yet), and now I am attempting to examine why arbuscules are ephemeral, how defenses are suppressed during AMF colonization, and why mycorrhizal plants are more resistant to other pathogens. It's kind of like that game you play where one message is whispered to one person after another, and by the end of the line, you have something completely different. Anyway, as of this past Wednesday, my advisor and I had us a good ol' fashioned 'sit down', and got things hammered out, once and for all. Yay. :) This made me very happy, as I only have about a week left before it is due.
Besides TAing and grant proposals, my choir and FISH (our youth group) have been keeping us busy. My choir has grown from about 5-8 last year, to an average of 10 this year, and I'm hoping for 20 by the end of next semester. Directing is a blast, especially because I have the power (and the will) to get Dan to sing solos. Which he did, by the way, last Sunday, in a smashing rendition of "Every Time I feel the Spirit". It was awesome. So he kicks my butt in debating--he has to obey me if I tell him to sing. :) Anyway, he kicked butt in that too, as far as I'm concerned.
One thing that has been at the center of our conversations (since the election, of course) has been FISH. It's kind of weird--since this is already a really long blog, I'm going to make it even longer. Well, FISH is a massive group (60-70) of high school kids who are led by 10 or so leaders (including Dan and myself, as of this year), and we meet every Wednesday evening, from 6-9. This time starts off with dinner prepared by the deacons or some kind group in the church (our deacons rock), followed by a time of singing and announcements, then we break into small groups and discuss topics such as pop culture, the media, how to see eye to eye when you don't agree with someone, etc. All of these topics are very good ones to bring up, and for the most part, the kids get into them one way or another. Here's the thing, though--this group is by far THE MOST accepting and loving group of kids and adults I have ever been part of, it's almost like a cult. In their testimonials at the end of the year, seniors often share that "FISH has brought me so much joy and I have felt so much love in FISH, and it's very comforting to know that I will always have that FISH feeling with me." Take out the word FISH, insert the word "God", and you will have your run-of-the-mill Christian testimony. Judging from that outcome--namely, that the kids are not making the connection between this nice feeling, welcoming atmosphere, unconditional love with GOD--it seems that maybe that correlation is not being made enough in the way we do things at FISH. It's great to be accepting and loving, and that is something a lot of us Christians can be such hypocrites about. However, with redemption comes the responsibility of obedience and sacrifice, and those things are not as easily taught to a group of high school kids without offending someone. It seems like some of the leaders would rather just let the kids take the conversation into their comfort zones, rather than challenging them with questions like "As Christians, what kind of responsibility do we have here?" or even questions like "Is this right?" I don't believe that exempts us from teaching it, though. In fact, if they aren't taught those kind of fundamental truths and morals now, they are not going to hear them in college, where peer pressure is rampant to have sex soon into a relationship, living together, the "If you're OK with it, then maybe it's OK for you" ideology, you know the rest. Dan and I have only been on board for a few months now, so rocking the boat trying to change the way we do things is not something we want to do quite yet. We have decided to give it a year to see if our views change any on how FISH operates and whether it is worth our time and energy every week. If God wants us here, then yes, I'm all for it, but it's hard to see what my role is here when "God" and "Christianity" are almost taboo subjects (just in the sense that if you mention them, you might offend some people).
Anyway, thanks for reading. If you have any suggestions, etc. I would be happy to read them. This is just something we have been struggling with the past few months. Hopefully we can be patient and creative in our efforts to reach the kids, but right now, I'm not quite sure how to do that.
Have a great weekend. Remember, God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. :)