I'm relieved to have finished the last semester. It exemplified the imperative for mental athleticism in an academic career. Each class (Constantinople, Medieval Rome, History of the Mediterranean) was so rich unto itself that my cup ran over. As Nick recently said, "I'm sweating from too much food ( Read more... )

Well, I'm getting married!

He proposed in the Palatine Chapel's north aisle, by the Simon Magus scene. "Yes" was perhaps the most natural, meaningful word I've spoken. What's mine is his.

It's time to work again. I'm so happy!

It's really hot today ( Read more... )

Good news all around. I got a fantastic fellowship for the remainder of my Art History degree: four years of tuition remission, health care, and a nearly excessive stipend. I feel very glad because the award endorses my ability and demands that I persist in performing well. One condition is that I must quit my job, which is bittersweet because I am ( Read more... )

I feel there's little to say because I do little but research and write. Next month I'll speak in Toronto, and I'm also working on papers about Exekias's Aithiopis vase and the al-Aqmar mosque in Cairo. I'm trying to get a handle on Islamic architecture because, for my dissertation, I intend to do a comparative study of medieval architecture in the ( Read more... )

I might be shaping into an art historian. Temple is excellent. Lonely research and a public job foil each other. Tuesday, I gave my first serious presentation, which addressed the west front of Wells cathedral. Liturgy is the most telling consideration to bridge form and meaning; still consider Scriptures and sermons, nonarchitectural sources, and ( Read more... )

"[Moral naturalists'] implied description of the moral life is gentle, fair and grounded. But it is all lower case. So far, at least, it might not satisfy those who want their morality to be awesome, formidable, transcendent or great."
--D. Brooks, The Moral ( Read more... )

Today should be a good day because it's the first half of my weekend (Friday is the other) and all the numbers align. I haven't decided how to use the rest of the day. There are domestic and bureaucratic tasks, PhD applications, ideas to record, research to conduct, fun to be had. There is time for all ( Read more... )

It's a humid and rainy day off today. Just as well; there's plenty I've neglected in favor of sunshine ( Read more... )

Today I am 24 ( Read more... )