Hello all!
I’m having a good Monday. I skipped out on my autonomous reading group on Postcolonial stuff since I wasn’t feeling good when I woke up at 8:30. Lately, I’ve been trying to ward off a head cold–sore throat, stuffy nose, etc. (I know you know what a head cold is; just thought I’d give you my particularities). So I got to sleep in and do a bit of reading this morning. I have a small germ of an idea for a paper/MSc dissertation/PhD dissertation. We’ll see how much it interests me if I write a paper on it and then see if I’d like to go further with it. Basically, I don’t have too much to share about it; only that, I’d like to look at the idea of authorship after reading the novel I powered through this weekend, New Grub Street, by George Gissing. It’s about literary culture in the dawn of industrialisation. It makes one ponder such issues as why writers write, to what effect, and for what purpose. Gissing (whom I hadn’t ever encountered before) is a very interesting author himself and there is much of the author in his characters. It is a hefty novel yet also an easy read. All that to say, I’d like to study authorship, the relationship between the author and his/her text; perhaps I’ll talk of other writers in the late 19th century as well–Henry James, perhaps? I’d also maybe like to bring in the issue of the author in the postcolonial context. So it is all very, very vague presently, but at least it’s a bit of something.
Unfortunately, the actual class time isn’t so exciting. My prof doesn’t frame his questions very specifically and as only a few of us (usually Americans) venture to actually try to answer the questions, it makes for lots of awkward silence. (tangent: here after church services are over, after the benediction, we have what we like to term “awkward silence time” where everyone sits down and sort of bows their heads and after a certain time people get up and mill about. Any ideas about what “awkward silence time” is for? Suggestions? We are thinking maybe it’s a time to look holy). 
My prof also asks these vague questions assuming that for instance today we have an extensive knowledge of Marxist literary theory and can chime in with all this background knowledge. I really enjoy the reading thus far and the subject matter and usually find what he says quite helpful and enlightening but the discussion really lags. Oh well–guess that’s what you get at a research university before beginning a Ph.D, where you get good chats with your supervisor.
It was warm today (by warm I mean high 40s or low 50s) but quite windy, which brought the temperature down a lot. I was walking across the Meadows (large grassy area with tree-lined paths, can be a bit “dodgy” at night) to class this afternoon and the leaves that had fallen from the trees were scampering along like the ocean tide receding. It was interesting to watch, as half my hair was blowing around my face.
After class I met Bryce at Starbucks. We snagged two comfy chairs and I did a bit of reading for my class on Friday. Bryce began to prepare his sermon on Exodus 3, the burning bush. Next semester he tells me he’ll be put in the regular Tuesday worship service preaching rota with all of the Free Church candidates for ministry. Right now he’s relegated to preaching in the practical theology classroom after class ends on a Thursday; he preaches this semester on Thanksgiving. We don’t really know why they have this division, but next term he should be in the standard rotation. Back to today: at Starbucks, I had a huge chocolate chip cookie, but alas, it didn’t come close to tasting like a good ol’ American cookie. Still good though. I looked out the windows and realised it was getting dark very quickly; the sun is setting about 4:30 right now and so by 5 it was dark and soon the skies were quite black. We walked home a bit before six and it looked like it was dark enough to be 9 PM.
We’ve just had dinner and have a night of studying and reading ahead of us: what’s new? Please pray for our health and my worry levels. It’s hard as we are relying on our savings for some of our monthly living expenses and it causes me to worry at times. I know God will provide for us, but oftentimes my faith is weak. Thank you all for your love, friendship, support and prayers. Please let us hear from you often.