London

I've finished the Bar exam and am on a three week trip to Europe.

This week finds me back in London and loving it. Sam and I flew into Heathrow yesterday . We've had a great time so far. Dinner last night was at a little Moroccan place with great cous cous that America hasn't seemed to discover yet. I had the same when I was in Belgium, but haven't found it in the states though I've tried several times.

After dinner we went to the Globe to see Othello. The Globe isn't the original, which was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, but a pretty authentic replica. The tickets were sold out, but there was a line for people returning them. Sam and I were hoping for tickets for seats on the wooden benches, just like they used in Shakespeare's day, but we were able to get them. Instead, we ended up with two standing tickets for the area just is front of the stage. As in the Elizabethan era, these tickets are the cheapest, £5 each (about ten dollars), but have a great view. As you know, Shakespearean plays can be quite long. Though I really enjoyed the show and getting to experience the authenticity, I think next time I'd prefer to sit.

We got a late start today thanks to our jetlag, but after having a quick lunch we checked out the National Portrait Gallery, one of the few big museums here that I had not yet been to. It was interesting because you glean loads of historical information from the tiny bios accompanying the portraits, but the focus clearly was not on the art itself. We are talking about going to the National Gallery or the British Museum tomorrow, so my art fix isn't far away.

Tonight we're going to see the Drowsy Chaperone, which got rave review and a few Tony's when it opened on Broadway. Sam and I never saw it in New York, so I'm looking forward to seeing that tonight.

The trip so far has been great. I hope we continue in the vein. I'll try to keep you posted.

Countdown

26 days until we leave New York. There are plenty of things I will miss, but mostly, I just can't wait to get back to a place that feels like home. Of course, finals stand between me and graduation, and I have yet to finish the giant paper that has been plaguing me all semester. I know these are just bumps along the road though.

Today is the first really nice day we've had all spring. I can feel it heralding the summer just around the corner, a summer I hope will be relaxing and enjoyable in spite of the Bar exam I have to take at the end of July. At least my friends will be nearby, and that will certainly ease the burden some. There are so many people I can't wait to see.

Sam and I are driving back with our dog Madge. Hopefully, I'll have some pictures to post. Here's our route:

Christmas Break

I suppose it's a bit late to post about Christmas break, seeing as it is almost late February. Nevertheless...

Sam and I rented a car, packed up Madge and our things and drove to the suburbs of Chicago for Christmas break. Besides the absence of my friends and family, it felt a lot like Salem. There were a lot of strip malls and suburbia seemed to stretch for miles in every direction. Sam's family was great and really made me feel welcome. Sam and I didn't do too much, which was fine with me as I needed a break. We did beat Gears of War if that can be called an accomplishment. We also made it to a couple of art museums.

Sam's grandma wanted to go to the Milwuakee Art Museum to see an exhibit on furniture from the Biedermeier period. I knew nothing about this, so it was pretty interesting. I also took the chance to see the rest of the museum's collection. I have to say that I didn't enjoy there collection that much, but there were a few things I thoroughly enjoyed.

This painting, called the Woodgatherer stunned me. I stood in front of it for several mintues absorbing it. The girl on the left seems as if she could leap off the canvas. Though frozen she seems alive and the painter, Jules Bastien-Lepage somehow managed to capture the feeling of her movement with his brushstokes. The woodgatherer behind her, old and worn down, seems to be on a different plane. He is frozen, and not just by the medium he is represented in, but by his age, by the weariness he feels. It's as though the life he has led bares down on him more than the wood he carries. If that weren't impressive enough, the woods behind them are painted so intricately that you have the sense that some woodland creature is going to come suddenly into view. Click on the photo for a bigger version. It's worth it.




I also saw Lichtenstein's "Crying Girl". Pop art isn't my favorite, but I know Tym likes it. So here you are.




On the day of New Years Eve we drove to Chicago and went to the Art Institute. They have a pretty large collection, but I was a little dissappointed. Their sculpture collection is really weak. Just a few works, several in plaster. They did have an impressive collection of impressionists, but it's not my favorite period. This piece, whose name and artist I can't recall, did impress me. The light is amazing. If anyone knows who the painter is or the title of the work, I'd love to know.




After we were done at the Art Institute, we grabbed an expensive dinner in Boy's Town, Chicago's gay area, and then rang in the New Year at a local club.

Overall, the break was good. It was nice to spend some more time with Sam's family and his friends out there. I think I put on about ten pounds with all the food Sam's grandma tried to feed us. Luckily, she's a pretty good cook.

I am looking forward to celebrating the holidays with our friends and family on the West Coast next year though.

If you want to see more photos, check out my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/92012730@N00/

Great News!

Hey All, I know that, once again, it's been a while since I've posted. Finals are afoot, so my head has been in the books. I did get some exciting news today though that I thought worthy of breaking the silence. I've got a job! I got a call today from a firm in Seattle that I recently interviewed with. They've offered to hire me next fall as an entry-level associate.

I'm really looking forward to being out of school, after my 20 years in the education system, and gainfully employed. In another 20 years I should have all my loans paid off :) I also can't wait to be back in the Northwest. It will be great to be able to see my family and the majority of my friends on a regular basis again. Thanks for all your support along the way.

The new year is already looking happier!

Thoughts on Being Haggard

Last Sunday, Rev. Ted Haggard, the founder of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado which has over 14,000 members, admitted to being "guilty of sexual immorality" after a gay man claimed to have had "drug-fueled trysts with him".

Haggard was a vocal opponent of same sex marriage and had preached that homosexual activity went against the teachings of the Bible.

Many bloggers and editorialists were quick to jump on Haggard as a hypocrite, which he certainly seems to be. But I couldn't help but feel sorry for Haggard. In a letter to his former congregation, Haggard wrote "I am a deceiver and a liar. There's a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it for all of my adult life."

As a gay man that was raised in a conservative Christian family, I related to Haggard's desire to pretend to be something he's not; straight. I lied to the people I was closest to and hid my true feelings from them because I was told all my life that it was wrong to feel the things I did and that if I acted on the intractable feelings inside of me, I would be committing a deeply immoral act.

I came to accept that there is nothing wrong with me or with being gay. Poor Haggard is planning on entering counseling with James Dobson and two other men, and seems to have a nearly religious faith that these men will be able to give him the "healing and restoration" that his prayers were unable to provide. I believe Haggard, who has already tried so hard to fight against that which he finds repulsive, will find his sexuality unchanged.

I hope some day people like Haggard will be encouraged to use all of their talents for constructive purposes instead being pushed by society or their religion to fight an unwinnable and destructive war against themselves. Perhaps the members of his congregation that claim to love him so much will forgive him for the mistakes of his past and accept him as he is, without asking him to hide or try to change something he cannot. Perhaps some day soon, he will be able to do the same for himself. I hope so.

The Last Days of Summer: Seattle

Wow, loyal readers, I can't believe it's November already! I know I haven't posted in a while, so you'd have to be really loyal to still be checking back.

As for the rest of my summer, which I promised I'd fill you in on, I was in Seattle. Sam and I went out at the beginning of August. He was working and I was looking for a job. Though the Firm I worked for had treated me well and was filled with great people, Sam and I want to be in Seattle. Unfortunately, my search was not successful, and I'm still trying to find a firm out there that wants to hire me.

I did get in some hiking while I was out there. I climbed Hidden Lakes Peak, and let me tell you, it was one of the best hikes I've ever done. The weather was perfect, cloudy in the morning with no rain and sunny in the afternoon. It made for a hike at a pleasurable temperature with stunning views from the top.

Here's a view from the trail on the way up.


This is the hidden lake in Hidden Lake's Peak.


And here's the view of Mount Raineer, which I intend to climb some day.


Eden and Tym also came up to see us for a few days. They stayed at the house we were renting from a friend of Sam's. It was so nice to have a house that we stayed home almost every night they were in town. I miss these ladies terribly, and I can't wait until we are both back on the same side of the continent. Here's a picture of them which they probably wouldn't want me to post.


The only other big news is that I am now an uncle! My beautiful neice Anya, born on the same day as my dad, is pictured below. Way to go Sean and Amy!


Besides that, there really hasn't been much to update you on since I got back to school. I've been studying a lot. All my classes are unfortunately reading intensive. Sam and I are trying to get out and see the city a little more, with some success.

Summer - Part 2: NY

Besides my trip to London, I also had a lot of fun in the United States this summer.

Early in the summer, my friends Tym and Tristan came to visit me. Sam came up from D.C. that same weekend, so we all got to explore the city together. The first evening they were in town, Tym, Tristan and I (since Sam hadn't arrived yet) went downtown and saw the World Trade Center site and the New York Stock Exchange. It was a bit warm, and we all felt like stopping for a drink. Luckily, we happened upon Stone Street, which I'd never heard of or seen before. I felt like I was back in Belgium. The entire street was filled with cafe tables full of people drinking beer, smoking and laughing. Though these were mostly investment bankers instead of the students I was used to in Belgium, it was a nice reminder of the fun times I had not so long ago.
After stopping for a beer, we went down to Battery Park for some beautiful views of the Statue of Liberty. Then we headed back toward the village, stopping in Soho at my favorite Cuban place on the way. Sam got in kind of late, not a surprise since he took the Chinatown bus. We all stayed up late chatting, but tried to get up early the next day anyway.

Still a little bleary eyed, we went to breakfast at Grey Dog before heading uptown to Central Park and the Metropolitan museum of Art. In case you haven't picked it up by now, I'm really an art lover. The Met, along with the Louvre in Paris and the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, is certainly one of the greatest museums in the world. It's really too big to see in one day, but it didn't stop me from trying. Sam can't stomach hours upon hours at a museum, and Tym and Tristan wanted to spend some of their time doing other things, so I got to spend less time there than I would have liked. I had been before and knew I was going later in the summer though, so I didn't worry too much about it.

The museum does have one sculpture by Canova, Perseus with the Head of Medusa. The statue, pictured below, really amazes me. That Canova could get the arm to extend so far out from the support of the body without breaking the marble is incredible. He had to hollow out Medusa's head to make it light enough not to break, and the cape, which looks like it's pulling the arm down, is actually acting as a support for the weight.

My favorite American sculptor also has a lot of work on display. I think the Angel of Death and the Sculptor is the best work of his I have seen. The statue was a commission from another American sculptor in honor of his brother, who died while carving a funeral monument. The contrast between the almost two-dimensional sphinx and the very three-dimensional Death stopping the sculptors hand always seemed very powerful to me, as though the sculptor's work is suddenly part of a different world.

After a quick visit to Grand Central Station and Times Square, we headed back home for a much needed rest. Sam and my mandatory Times Square shot is below.

For dinner, we went to John's Pizzeria, which is allegedly the best in the city. Then we went to a comedy night that a friend of Sam's hosts. Unfortunately, including the four of us, there were only six people in the audience. Two of them bailed out before the show was half over, leaving Sam, Tym, Tristan and I to try and laugh hard enough to not offend the comedians. When the room is that empty, they can tell who's laughing. By the end, the last comedian was asking only half joking, if he could pay us to leave. The sad part was that the comedy was, for the most part, quite good. The lack of an audience wasn't very conducive to big laughs though.

The next morning Tym and Tristan had to head to the airport, and that afternoon Sam took the bus back to Washington, D.C.. It was nice having everyone come visit, though I think I was cleaning the apartment for the next three days. Four people make a lot more messes than me alone.

Unfortunately, I've got to get to bed, so it looks like I'll have to post the next part of the Summer series later. Next time: my trips to Washington D.C.