Aha!

Professor Caroselli:
"At the last judgment, clothes are not expected!"
"and I had an instinctive reaction to that picture! I think it was like, 'oolala'."
"yoryoooar"

Some Random Honors Guy (in reference to a picture of the Sistine Chapel):
"It has eyes!"

Yes.... that's right. An anthropromorphic Sistine Chapel.

For some odd reason, her lecture today makes me want to read the transcript of some venician guy and the roman inquisitors.... Ah yes, the hilarity which could be derived from said transcript...

As I was sitting in honors congress today, I was struck by a couple of things. I don't know if they're correct or not. Maybe I'm projecting, or over-analyzing, or any number of things. Maybe I simply had an insight into my own mind, and maybe I'm doing a great injustice to my fellow students. Take it with a grain of salt. But it struck me that we honors students don't like being asked our gut response to things. We take pride in our analyzation skills, and we feel safe in attempting to be intellectual. I think we almost dislike people, like Susanna Caroselli, who turn us on our ears and expect more of us. We come to honors congresses expecting to be challenged in our brains, and bored out of them, not to be touched in our hearts. People like Susanna Caroselli expect something we consider below us. We're insulted at 'not being taken seriously.' In some cases I think we fear to be opened up in that sort of unconsidered (and hence unguarged) way. We might not be right for once. I mean, we might be dead wrong. Oh, the horrors! We might be wrong, and we might be human after all. I like people like Susanna Caroselli, who dont' take themselves too seriously, who consider both the emotional and the intellectual responses, and who is extremely passionate about their work.

I could say a lot more about our games on the lawn which totally rocked, but instead (since most of my readers were actually there) I'll tell you what it made me think. It made me think that you should be ready and waiting for awe. I know one of the amazing things about awe and joy is that they break all of a sudden like a quickened dawn, but it also strikes me that if we looked for it, we could anticipate its coming and so prolong its wonder. If we lived in a perpetual pre-dawn grey, we could see things around us so much more clearly, and yet that moment when the first rays strike the trees, and the dew glows transparent, and all is silent and peaceful - that moment would still be every bit as awe-full. I think, even seeing it coming, we would be moved to tears by the first glowing touch of awe.

I realize this has been a long post. But I'm still going to add an addendum: some more of those wonderful tricks to play on your roommate. I don't expect everyone to read such long ramblings, although it's always appreciated when people actually do. All that merely goes to say: if you don't read it, I'm not insulted. Once again, my favorites in bold. There's a lot of good ones this time, so it'd be more to the point to highlight the ones I didn't like, but that seems confusing.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

51. Change the locks on the door. Don't let your roommate in unless he/she says the secret word. Change the secret word often. If your roommate can 't guess the secret word, make him/her pay a tithe.

52. Scatter stuffed animals around the room. Put party hats on them. Play loud music. When your roommate walks in, turn off the music, take off the party hats, put away the stuffed animals, and say, "Well, it was fun while it lasted."

53. Hang a tire swing from the ceiling. Act like a monkey. If someone besides your roommate comes in, cease acting like a monkey and claim that the tire swing was your roommate's idea. When you and your roommate are alone again, continue acting like a monkey.

54. Unplug everything in the room except for one toaster. Pray to the toaster. Bring it gifts. Throw some of your roommate's possessions out the window. Say that the toaster made you do it.

55. Challenge your roommate to a duel. If he refuses, claim that you have won by forfeit and therefore conquered his side of the room. Insist that he remove all of his possessions immediately.

56. Sign your roommate up for various activities. (Campus tour guide, blood donor, organ donor).

57. Start dressing like an Indian. If your roommate inquires, claim that you are getting in touch with your Native-American roots. If your roommate accuses you of not having any Native-American roots, claim that he/she has offended your people and put a curse on your roommate.

58. Wear your shoes on the wrong feet, all the time. Constantly complain that your feet hurt.

59. Hit your roommate on the head with a brick. Claim that you were trying to kill a mosquito.

60. Steal something valuable of your roommate's. If he/she asks about it, tell him/her that you traded it for some magic beans. Give some beans to your roommate.

61. Instead of turning off the light switch, smash the light bulb with a hammer. Put a new bulb in the next day. Complain often about the cost of light bulbs.

62. Videotape yourself hammering a nail into a wall for a while, and then stopping. Play the tape in your room. Right before the hammering stops on the videotape, look at the screen and say, "Don't do that."

63. Buy a lamp. Tell your roommate it's a magic lamp, with a genie inside it. Spend a week thinking about what to wish for. At the end of the week, report that someone has released the genie from the lamp. Blame your roommate.

64. Whenever your roommate brushes his/her teeth, watch him/her do so. Take notes. Write a paper on it, and circulate it around campus. If your roommate protests, say, "The people have a right to know!"

65. Collect potato chips that you think look like famous people. Find one that looks like your roommate. Burn it, and explain, "It had to be done."

66. Read the phone book out loud and excitedly. ("Frank Johnson! Oh, wow! 837-9494! Holy cow!")

67. Shadow box several times a day. One day, walk in looking depressed. If your roommate asks what's wrong, explain that your shadow can't box with you anymore due to an injury. Ask your roommate if you can box with his/her shadow.

68. When you walk into the room, look at your roommate in disgust and yell, "Oh, you're here!" Walk away yelling and cursing.

69. Put up flyers around the building, reporting that your roommate is missing. Offer a reward for his/her safe return.

70. Buy a watermelon. Draw a face on it and give it a name. Ask your roommate if the watermelon can sleep in his/her bed. If your roommate says no, drop the watermelon out the window. Make it look like a suicide. Say nasty things about your roommate at the funeral.

71. Draw a chalk outline on the floor. When your roommate comes in, say, "Don't worry. It's not what you think." If he/she asks about it again, immediately change the subject.

72. Drink a cup of coffee every morning. When you finish it, gnaw on the mug for about ten minutes. Then, look at your roommate, immediately put the mug away, and quickly leave the room.

73. Paint a tunnel on the wall like they do in cartoons. Every day, hit your head as you attempt to crawl through it. Hold your head and grumble, "I'll get that pesky road runner...."

74. Leave memos on your roommate's bed that say things like, "I know what you did," and "Don't think you can fool me." Sign them in blood.

75. Hold a raffle, offering your roommate as first prize. If he/she protests, tell him/her that it's all for charity.