Op-Ed

So, I wrote an op-ed piece about the Prayer-in-Daily-Life Retreat for the Georgetown Law Weekly. Sharing my spiritual testimony by way of school newspaper is a new experience for me, to say the least, but I'm glad I took the time to organize my thoughts. Here is the article, for the curious. (ADX and Newman kids, be excited--you're mentioned!)

Retreat, finding time for spirituality in law school
Amanda Stempson

     I closed my eyes, and imagined the scene: I was tending a flock of sheep at the base of a mountain. I could hear someone calling my name, but I felt conflicted—should I stay with the flock, or follow the voice?
     This was the first of many questions that I faced during the Prayer-in-Daily-Life Retreat offered by Campus Ministry during the first week of November. This particular question arose as I participated in a guided prayer led by Father Alexei Michalenko, S.J., based on Moses’ encounter with God in the form of a burning bush in Exodus, chapter 3. As I put myself in Moses’ shoes (well, sandals), I related to his struggle to choose between his earthly duty and God’s greater calling.
     In meeting with a spiritual advisor each day for half an hour, and committing to a half-hour of daily prayer during the week-long retreat, my hope was to renew my prayer life. In undergrad at UC Berkeley, I had been very involved with student ministry at Newman Hall Holy Spirit Parish. I was also in Alpha Delta Chi, a Christian sorority. Starting out at Georgetown Law, I did not know what to expect. Would I find a faith-filled community? Would I be able to strike a balance between the notorious rigors of 1L year and my personal desire for spiritual enrichment? This retreat called out to me as a chance to examine these questions.
     My spiritual director was Sister Dorinda Young, who greeted me in her office each afternoon with a peaceful smile. She lit a candle, reminding us of God’s presence, and we quieted ourselves by contemplating ruah, the Hebrew word for spirit or breath. Just as I breathe in and out every moment, ruah seemed to say, so could God’s love be a continual presence in my life.
     The challenge as a law student, however, is to find time to acknowledge and appreciate God’s love. For me, making time for God requires both desire and energy: a desire to pursue such a relationship, and the energy to live out God’s love each day.
     How, then, to grow in faith during law school, when we are short on desire and energy at the end of a rigorous day? From the Prayer-in-Daily-Life Retreat, I witnessed three ways in which I can further develop my spirituality.

Prayer

     At the heart of the retreat is a commitment to daily prayer. At first, I wasn’t sure how I would manage to fit the half-hour into my schedule. I tried out different times throughout the day, and learned that evening prayer worked the best for me. When I found myself wearied by my schoolwork, I chose to take a break for prayer. I would close my laptop, turn down the lights, light a candle, and relax in my chair. I tried pre-written prayers, praying with Scripture, journaling, and extemporaneous prayer, but the deepest prayer for me was to simply be quiet and listen.
     At the end of a half-hour, or even 15 minutes, I felt calm and rejuvenated. Taking the short break seemed to make the rest of my evening far more productive, instead of slogging through without pause. I was delighted to discover that my spiritual renewal was impacting other aspects of my life, including academics.

Study

     Spending time with Scripture was another key element of the retreat. One of my favorite things about reading the Bible is that I can read the same passage over and over, and get a completely different meaning out of it each time. The essence of Bible study for me is applicability—how does this passage apply to my own life? The retreat emphasized many methods for connecting with Scripture, including imagining oneself in the scene of the passage, reading a psalm as a prayer, and focusing on any specific words that resonate while reading a passage.

Accountability

     The week before I left for undergrad, I went to visit my grandmother. At the end of our visit, saying our good-byes, she tearfully embraced me and whispered in my ear, “Don’t lose faith.” Those three little words spurred me on to grow dramatically in my relationship with God, and provided me with a clear model for showing others accountability.
     In search of spiritual accountability at the start of my 1L year, I first discovered Catholic Forum, a group of law students that meets monthly to discuss issues relevant to Catholicism while promoting a spiritual community. Coupled with Mass in McDonough Hall’s beautiful little St. Thomas More Chapel on Sundays, it was a good foundation, but I yearned for more. I was searching for the intimate accountability that I had found so readily in my Bible study groups at Berkeley.
     Through Catholic Forum, I met Michael O’Rourke, a fellow 1L, who had been similarly involved with Bible study groups at Harvard. Desiring a smaller faith community rooted in accountability, he and I have started the aptly named Small Group Bible Study, which meets each Wednesday at 7:30 pm in Gewirz 1014 to explore the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ by sharing in Scripture and prayer (and baked goods).
     The retreat similarly exemplified a small community of personal sharing. I was inspired by the willing vulnerability of my fellow retreatants as we discussed our hopes and struggles during the retreat’s opening and closing gatherings. The group was a composite of several different faith traditions, but we all connected on a more basic level through our desire to know God’s love.
     By the end of the retreat, we were asked to sum up our experiences in one phrase or image. My phrase was, “The Lord takes my hand and leads me.” This is the ultimate form of accountability, to allow myself to be led by faith. Through the Prayer-in-Daily-Life Retreat, I am hopeful that prayer, study, and accountability can be fruitful features of my life as a student at Georgetown Law.

     Amanda Stempson, 1L, would love to hear how others are balancing the spiritual and the scholastic. She can be reached at als244@law.georgetown.edu.

Two little things...

I was called on today in my Civil Procedure class, and survived! The professor kept me and my classmate sitting next to me on call for the entire hour-and-a-half (though sometimes calling on other people). I didn't take very many notes, because I was too busy concentrating on every word he said to make sure I'd be able to answer his questions, which are sometimes cryptic. For example, when trying to ask me about the role of traditional tests for personal jurisdiction, all he said was "Fiddler on the Roof?" I stared at him, utterly perplexed, until he said with gusto, "Tradition!" Gah, I should have gotten that! There were definitely some questions I couldn't answer, but he nonetheless told me "Good job" after class, which was a relief.

The other cool thing that happened today was SNOW! It snowed for five minutes or so around lunchtime. I was in the library when it started, and once I caught sight of it from a window, I packed up all of my things, ran down four flights of stairs, and stood in our little quad, gawking at the sky. The only other time I had seen snow fall was on the Spring 2006 Newman retreat (iTune into God), so I was very excited. The snow melted as soon as it touched the ground, but there were definitely little flakes clinging to my Cal sweatshirt! So pretty! A man walking by spotted me and, gesturing toward my sweatshirt, commented, " I bet you don't see this too often in Berkeley." True story, sir.

Summit's Up

I would just like to point out that I can literally watch the G-20 economic summit from my dorm window:


View Larger Map

The meeting is taking place at the National Building Museum, next to which I can see dozens of flashing police cars, brigades of bicycle cops, and a series of mysterious white tents. Perhaps the tents are for parking? It is raining, after all, and we can't have our foreign heads of state getting wet. Or, maybe it is a makeshift security headquarters. The incessant sound of sirens isn't exactly conducive to studying, but the activity makes for an interesting view.

Last night, I was near Dupont Circle when, all of a sudden, a bunch of policemen swarmed the area, forming traffic blockades against all of the streets intersecting with Connecticut Ave. I was a bit bewildered, until I remembered that the summit was this weekend, and then I got excited, because I knew that it meant someone important would be driving by. Sure enough, a long motorcade passed by a few minutes later; I counted 8 motorcycle cops, 17 black SUVs, limos and sedans, 2 buses, 6 police vehicles, and 1 ambulance. One of the limos was sporting the Chinese flag, so it's very possible that it was President Hu Jintao! I mean, he's not exactly one of my favorite world leaders, but, still... D.C. is so exciting. (Alternately: I'm a nerd.)

EDIT, 1:10 PM: Ah ha! According to The New York Times, President Jintao headed a delegation of 100 people for the summit, which explains why his motorcade was so huge.

Capital Capitol Adventures

So, I wore a button-down shirt with three-quarters length sleeves today, and I only just noticed, at 10:20 at night, that I walked around all day with one of my sleeves completely unbuttoned. Lame. Ha ha, I wonder if strangers judged me, assuming me to be a pathetic law student driven to absent-mindedness on account of her studies.

I think autumn is here, though the weather has mostly oscillated between winter and spring, in my opinion. I am pleased by the beautiful colors of the trees across from Union Station. I cannot wait for all of the seasonal things that happen in DC, especially once we get closer to Christmas. But, nearer to Christmas also means nearer to finals, so it is a bittersweet anticipation. (Four weeks until finals?!)

Donna and I went on a tour of the Capitol Visitor Center on Saturday. "But, Amanda," I'm sure you're thinking, "according to the CVC website, the center isn't open yet! How on earth did you go on a tour?" Well, simply put, it was courtesy of my sweet Georgetown Law connections. Apparently, the CVC needs people upon which to practice their tours, and they invited the Georgetown Law community to participate in their "test and adjust" tours. Donna and I had a lot of critiques, to be frank. There was an intense 13-minute video about the history of Congress, which was uninformative to anyone who has graduated from high school. Also, they made us all wear headphones connected wirelessly to a microphone worn by our tour guide. It seemed like a good idea, if a bit odd, but they need to work out the technological kinks--i.e., very loud and obnoxious static. That being said, it was pretty neat to see the Capitol rotunda, which our guide told us is spacious enough to fit the Statue of Liberty with room to spare! Also, the Capitol has two statues from every state, so there are statues shoved everywhere. We only saw one of the California statues, of Junípero Serra. He was portrayed in brass, and was shown brandishing a cross in his right hand.

After our tour, Donna and I cruised over to Dupont to get lunch and do some studying together. We went to this awesome salad place about which Donna had been raving, called Chop't. It's like the Coldstone Creamery of salad! You pick out the lettuce and toppings that you would like, and they dump everything onto a counter and use a huge mezzaluna knife to chop up the ingredients, which has a curved blade for rocking action. Then, they dump everything into a big bowl, add dressing, and toss it for you. It is a bit pricey, but they give you enough salad to last two meals, which makes up for it. Donna and I decided that the place felt like Northern California.

We spent the remainder of the day studying at various cafes, which often broke down into people-watching, laughing uncontrollably, and general silliness. I studied for my Legal Research and Writing in-class exam, which is on Friday. (Yikes!) Actually, I feel pretty good about LRW... meticulous citation rules and grammatical nuances are kind of my thing. Nonetheless, this week will consist of much preparation. Andiamo! (That's for you, Chiara.)

Fiat Lux

In the spirit of NaBloPoMo, I thought I'd try to post more frequently this month. (All the cool kids are doing it, after all.) Perhaps, instead of writing one or two obnoxiously long posts per week, I'll write posts of a more manageable length. We shall see.

So, I am on a retreat this week, which has been quite a blessing. Georgetown Law's Office of Campus Ministry puts on a semi-annual Prayer in Daily Life Retreat, in which we meet with a spiritual director every day and are guided to pray with and reflect upon scripture. The retreat is coming at a good point in the semester, because it allows me to address the struggles that I've encountered spiritually so far in law school, while also preparing myself spiritually for finals, which start in a scant four-and-a-half weeks.

I have been deeply challenged by the lack of accountability here. Gone are the days of living in a community of Christian women, praying with Cindy and Carla, et al., each morning, attending two to three Bible studies each week, and spending more time at Newman than in my own house on some days. I miss it so deeply, and yet--not to frighten those of you in Berkeley, but--this is not how the rest of the world functions, I'm afraid to say. I am learning that, as much as I can seek out groups of Catholics my age for fellowship, I must find other ways to hold myself accountable to God's desire for faith, hope, and love.

As most of you know, I am something of a word nerd, and one manifestation of that is to compulsively look up words in dictionaries and thesauri. (I cannot begin to describe how much joy my Mac's dictionary/thesaurus widget has brought me.) Incidentally, as I was writing the previous paragraph, I looked up synonyms for "frighten," because I didn't like how the sentence read with "afraid" at the end. One of the synonyms listed is "put the fear of God into," and that makes me reconsider the context of the sentence. I take it back--I hope I do frighten you! Knowing that other synonyms for that phrase are to "be in awe of," "venerate," and "respect" God, I hope that you are in awe of the gifts that God has given you, and cherish the communities that you have. One often doesn't fully appreciate something until one feels its absence, and this is very true of my profound relationships with the Beta chapter of Alpha Delta Chi, and the campus ministry of Newman Hall Holy Spirit Parish. You guys realize that I think about you literally every Monday and Tuesday, respectively, right? You're in my prayers.

However, do not think that feeling the absence of these fellowships leads me to despair. No, I simply must learn other ways to work on my relationship with God. And, I have never turned away from an opportunity to learn. In the words of the seal of the University of California, and of Genesis 1:3, "Let there be light."

Amen.

Show, Don't Tell

As I looked from face to face, the joy was universal. Perfect strangers grinned widely at me, and I grinned right back at them. Choruses of "O-BA-MA!" and "YES, WE CAN!" rang out along H Street, echoing off of the tall buildings that surrounded us. No one seemed to mind the steady drizzle of rain--nothing could dampen our spirits on this night.

The streets were packed with bands of people walking every which way, pouring in and out of bars and apartments, taxis and subways. Each red traffic light was an invitation to dance in the street, and dance we did to the rhythm of the chants, barely noticing the lines demarcating the crosswalks.

I clapped. I shouted. I debated universal health insurance. I laughed. I high-fived. I hugged. I stood in a bar, surrounded by students and professionals, men and women, blacks and whites (and everything in between), and I did not stand alone.

We stood and we watched the speech. The inspiration. The reassurance. The potential. We smiled at the thought of the Obama daughters' new puppy. We clapped for David Plouffe, and we admitted sheepishly that we were happy he would stop emailing us, now. We looked at the faces in the Chicago crowds, and we were moved, and maybe even shed a tear ourselves.

I walked home. My apartment was dark, quiet, calm. I breathed a sigh of relief as I snuggled into my bed, and prayed a little prayer of thanksgiving. I closed my eyes, and looked forward to tomorrow's dawn.

There are very few countries that live up to their creed, that live up to the documents of their founding, that all men are created equal. And, tonight, America has proven itself on a world stage as a show country, not a tell country. They have shown that we have lived up to our creed. That we are what we say we are. And there's not a lot of countries [...] that can say that. [...] America, tonight, lives up to its promise.

- Jon Stewart, Indecision 2008, Nov. 4, 2008

The Countdown

In tribute to SNL's parody of Keith Olbermann, I welcome you to The Countdown with Amanda Stempson. (N.B. Diction borrowed liberally from both the parody and from Olbermann himself.)

Edit: To see/hear an audio version of this blog, check out the YouTube video that I created:

5: Comedy or Commentary?

We turn now to our fifth story on The Countdown: the brilliant portrayal of Keith Olbermann by Ben Affleck on the Nov. 1 edition of Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey's parody of Sarah Palin notwithstanding. The in-character Affleck said, quote,

It is a fear, sir, and a tyranny up with which we dare no longer put.

This sketch is long overdue and is, by far, one of the best SNL pieces to come out of this season. Affleck's pompous verbosity, rapid enunciation, and gratuitous outrage were simply superb! I was particularly delighted by his refusal to end a sentence with a preposition, even when resulting in absurd sentence constructions (such as the above quote).

I find Olbermann's show entertaining, if uninformative, mostly because he is so ostentatious. So, to see a grandiloquent parody of The Countdown made my day. Should not, indeed, Stephen Colbert consider the hiring of a co-anchor to aid him in the Report's pursuit of truthiness?

4: Truants for Change

Number four on the Countdown tonight, the supportive efforts of Georgetown Law to enable students to be involved with the 2008 presidential election. The Student Bar Association, the student government of the law school, passed a resolution requesting that professors either cancel class on Nov. 4, or provide an audio recording of the class. The purpose? To allow students to more fully participate in the plethora of voter protection projects happening in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.

As of last week, I discovered that my own classes for Election Day will be canceled. Although my availability was last-minute, I was able to sign up for homeless voter protection at a nearby polling place. My job will be to help homeless people who are denied their right to vote. I will do that all morning, and then walk to the Obama campaign headquarters to do some "last call for change" phone banking. I highly encourage anyone who has any spare time on Election Day to work for non-partisan voter protection or for the Obama campaign directly. And, for the love of America, VOTE!

3: Viva la Vida

Our number three story: Coldplay was in D.C. on Halloween night, playing to a sold-out Verizon Center. I had the good fortune of attending said concert with Donna, and was much impressed by Coldplay's high-energy performance, resplendent with over-the-top light effects.

Chris Martin, lead singer for the band, played the piano in a manner that one can only describe as the seeming efforts of a tortured genius. (That is not to say that Mr. Martin is a tortured genius, but rather that he is capable of portraying one on stage.)

I attended the concert technically dressed as a punk poseur. My initial thought was to attend the concert dressed as a punk, but, acknowledging that I wouldn't necessarily be able to pull this off authentically, I amended my costume conceptually. Some of my classmates argued that this was somewhat esoteric, and I concede that they had a point. Fortunately, Donna later helped me to improve my costume by rolling up my pant legs, applying copious amounts of eyeliner, and coaching me in facial expressions and attitudes that were categorically emo, to great effect.

2: World's Worst

And now, Countdown's Worst Person in the World! To: Michael Powell, New York Times reporter. Mr. Powell recently wrote an article that ostensibly jinxes the entirety of the Obama campaign and its supporters. Entitled "Obama Is Up, and Fans Fear That Jinxes It," Mr. Powell maintains that, quote

To talk with left-leaning Democrats in New Hope, San Francisco or Miami Beach, to drill deep into their id, is to stand at the intersection of Liberal and High Anxiety.

Well, Mr. Powell, if the Dems weren't thinking this before you wrote your pessimistic malediction, they certainly are now! Mr. Powell, you of all people must know of the enormous influence that the New York Times has on liberal thought. To write such inane blather, and then make this claim, is circular logic, indeed! This piece is little more than a self-fulfilling prophecy based on a cruel tautology that may cost Mr. Obama the election!

Mr. Powell, sir, if you yet retain any trace of honor, you must at once resign from the New York Times. Indeed, sir, justice and dignity demand you so to do!

1: ADR & HSM

Turning, now, to our number one story tonight: Disney's High School Musical has infiltrated the hallowed halls of Georgetown Law. In Civil Procedure on Friday, in a discussion of alternative dispute resolution, my professor was explaining the cooperative efforts of resolution as related to sociologist Talcott Parsons' four elements of therapy. Specifically, dispute resolution plays out as a sort of psychotherapy for all parties involved. My professor's way of succinctly encapsulating this point? Quote,

We're all in this together.

My professor acknowledged that he has a 12-year-old daughter, and has thus seen High School Musical on multiple occasions. He even went on to make sardonic comments about Sharpay. Quite simply, sir, it was one of the most surprising moments of your class to date.

And that's the Countdown for this: the six-hundred thirty-second day since Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States.

Good night, and good luck.