I Hate Finals

Everyone hates finals. To celebrate, I'm highlighting some of the best finals-hating statuses posted on Facebook this week:

Ryan: is doing that thing he does, where he thinks out an entire future and idealizes it in order to procrastinate and/or justify his actions.

Moira: well i WAS on a roll....

Joe: Still outlining my sources, no thesis yet, and the paper's due at 10 AM. This is what I get for choosing to research demonology: God punishes me for seeking knowledge of evil and Satan screws me over.

Steve: My take home finals are offensively difficult.

Kristin: Oh good. An hour and 4 minutes to write 6 pages. Good.

And, last but not least,

Ryan: Good morning Oversleeping and Feeling-Like-Sh*t,
Go screw yourselves and then make me cereal.
Love, Ryan

What's that saying about laughing in times of trouble???
Best of luck to you during these last grueling weeks before the holiday.

CAB Christmas Market

I just had a series of heart palpitations. After writing about various Christmas markets for the Travel Tattler, the monthly travel newsletter that I edit for my internship at Let's Travel!, I have fallen for Christmas markets. And I've fallen hard. I've covered them for two months now and they seem Utopian: people gathered together, twinkle lights, warm food, hand-crafted gifts and live music. visitBerlin.de sums it up best; above a photograph of happy people mulling around a beautiful statue reads "Christmas Markets: Sweet Gingerbread and Hot Mulled Wine."

Excuse me, when is the next flight to Berlin?

You can imagine my sheer joy when I learned that CAB, Fordham's Campus Activities Board, is hosting a Christmas market on campus. Really, an actual Christmas market with vendors, music, Santa, and probably even lights of some kind. I will get gifts for everyone (Asian Cultural Exchange table, here I come!). I will  belt out carols like I'm in the shower. And, to top it all off, I will eat Belgian waffles topped with everything.

My friends, here comes a reason for the season.

Stay Tuned: Lessons and Carols

This is just about my favorite Fordham event of the year.

The Festival of Lessons and Carols features the Fordham choirs singing Christmas music that isn't blase. Tired of your local radio station's Christmas playlist already? I assure you, this is music of a different kind; it makes for a welcome change and a beautiful segue into the Christmas season. (Preview the magic by clicking the listening sample links at the bottom of this page.)

If you're within a reasonable commuting distance, I highly recommend attending! The concert is free, open to the public, and offers an intimate look at a Fordham tradition. Plus, I'll be there; this is my first year not singing in the Liturgical Choir, so I will be a giddy, first-time audience member!

 The Festival has two performances: one at 8 pm on Saturday, December 4 in the Church of St. Paul the Apostle and the second at 3 pm on Sunday, December 5 in the Fordham University Church on the Rose Hill Campus. Seating is first-come first-served. In lieu of an admission fee, all are welcome to support Fordham Big Brothers/ Big Sisters annual toy drive by bringing an unwrapped, non violent gift for a child between the age of infant to 12 years old.

My Favorite Things

If you watch Oprah, you know that she just had her Favorite Things episode, during which she gave away lots of her favorite loot to hand-picked audience members. I missed the show, but it was apparently so good that it's now officially titled "Oprah's ULTIMATE Favorite Things."

In any case, it inspired me to think about my favorite things. If I had billions of dollars, what would I give away to an audience that my PR reps deemed deserving? What makes me happy on a daily basis?
It's a long list, but here's a glimpse of what I came up with:

My comfy suede/sheepskin flats by Lei ( mine are purple)

The abstract painting above the fireplace that brightens up my room

Hallelujah Here She Comes by U2

Sausage, Beans and Broccoli Rabe Soup by Rachel Ray

Sealy's posturepedic Encompass pillow

It is, of course, unnerving to place importance on material things. However, day-to-day happiness is sometimes about the small stuff: toasty feet, a amazing pillow, a great song. By no means do any of these things make college a great experience, but they bring me moments of joy throughout my days. If you're preparing for college, consider what you can pack along that will bring you bits of happiness, too. Often times, the small stuff makes all the difference.

Here's hoping that you're giving thanks for things big and small this year. Happy Thanksgiving!

What's Cooking

Photo by Ellie Miller

The joy of owning my blog is that I can now include things that don't necessarily pertain to Fordham life. Like cooking. Though cooking is not directly related to my school or location, it's very much a part of my life and even more a part of how I enjoy college (my own kitchen stocked with delicious things? Yes, please!). I'm elated to be able to share what I'm brewing here; some recipes are just too good to keep to myself!

Take, for example, Aran's butternut squash soup on Canelle et Vanille. I don't have the rights to her beautiful photographs and thus can't post them here, but PLEASE take a moment to check them out! Oh, but before you do, grab some napkins- you'll need them to wipe the drool from your chin.

Also, Friday was my night to cook dinner for my house community. I went for Road to Morocco Lamb with some minor changes: I added eggplant, rubbed the lamb the night before, and let it simmer for 1.5 hours. It. was. AMAZING.

Next up is Paula Deen's calorie-filled Steak and Pie; we'll see how it goes!

What's New: Opus

This past Thursday, Fordham was the humble host of the Opus Prize, a $1 million faith-based award given annually to recognize unsung heroes solving today’s most persistent social problems. And, boy, did we celebrate! We had an array of Malawian and Ecuadorian food to honor the sites of the two recipients, awesome music and hundreds of well-decorated sugar cookies. Who could ask for more?

Awesome Opus earth-cookie, c/o Clare Gray-Lewis

Even cooler than the ceremony, though, was the Globalization and the Ecology of Caring symposium that Fordham held the day before the prize ceremony. The symposium featured Fred de Sam Lazaro, who reports regularly for the PBS Newshour and Ethics Newsweekly on grass-roots efforts to improve the lives of the world’s poor. Using clips from his work, he and other panelists reflected on social justice issues around the world while highlighting the work of the Opus recipients.
But what did I get from all of this, you might ask? Well, aside from great discussion, I now have a new book on the top of my reading list, thanks to panelist Jacqueline Novogratz.

Where in the World Is Catholicism?

The Center for American Catholic Studies requires that we write a monthly reflection on our service. Thought I'd share:

Image c/o www.conversantlife.com

"I have a question: why do we always worship a white Jesus?" a high school student in the youth group asked this past week. Her question becomes particularly poignant when considering that she attends a predominantly Mexican parish, and even more so when remembering that her house is cluttered with images that portray a Mexican mother of Jesus.

Moreover, her question necessitates an answer that is much too big to explain fully in youth group. The real answer to her question would explain why I spent most of my life worshiping a white Jesus without thinking to question it, and why my Italian-American family doesn't recall that our Sicilian ancestors worshiped black saints.

Sam, the leader of youth group, circumvented the long answer. He explained that religious imagery has often been portrayed according to those who funded it and spread it, and then he allowed her to own Catholicism much more than Mexicans ever have in America's white-Jesus history. "Catholicism is, largely, thriving in Latin America and Africa," he replied. "In 500 years, I suspect we'll all worship a brown Jesus."