Apparently there is old stuff EVERYWHERE

I just got back from a day-long antiquing excursion to PA with most of my class. Some of them have been doing this sort of thing since childhood, but I am new to it. It's pretty overwhelming the sheer amount of old stuff out there - something from the 1920's, or even the 1890's, is not that unusual.

Here are the results of my day:

gold-plated costume jewelry ring - $5
2 blue and white willow pattern dessert plates of mediocre quality- $2.50
2 movie soundtrack for my car's tape deck, Footloose and Sleepless in Seattle - $2
DVD of The Queen, which is not antique but still awesome - $5
Having a sing-along to the Backstreet Boys with a 60+ year old antiques market employee - priceless

Breakin' dishes up in here

This is a "waster" aka ceramic fail from 1600's Delft, Holland. Clearly something went wrong in the kiln with this pile of plates.

So obviously we are in ceramics block right now at school. I will be honest - ceramics were just about my least favorite when we started. I loved our attempts at using a pottery wheel, but otherwise I thought 50% of this stuff was hideous or boring or both. Earthenware, stoneware, pearlware, it's all the same to me. Also, I would never, ever, ever put a porcelain figurine in my own home.

Now, a few weeks later, I have to admit that I have, as usual, learned a lot and am way better at understanding what I see. A room full or vases or plates is not as tortuous as it once was.

But sometimes, maybe when I am holding a teapot over the classroom table covered in plates and jugs, I still wonder what kind of noise would result if I dropped it. Or threw it against a wall. Or drop it down the stairs. Clearly I have curatorial issues. At least Rhianna agrees with me that breaking dishes could be a lot of fun.

If Danny Kaye went to grad school

For the final project result of my London trip, I am researching a pewter flagon made in England but owned by a Massachusetts church in the 1790s. Right now I am still in that "what the heck am I doing??" project stage. This is becoming a theme in my grad school life. I assemble many facts and then try to organize them in a choherent fashion. Anyone else ever feel this way?

On Thursday I will be giving a 12 minute presentation about my amazing flagon knowledge. I am tempted just to show this 10 minute classic film clip and call it a day. I could argue that the tounge-twisting confusion over chalices, flagons, palaces, and poison symbolizes England's chaotic religious identity and frequently changing liturgical practices. Plus Danny Kaye as The Court Jester always makes people laugh.

Spiritual food, at home and abroad

Happy Ash Wednesday everyone. I really do like this day, and not just because it falls near my birthday or because it's fun to see people get confused by the smudge on your forehead. Today is a day that reminds us of what is truly important, and urges us to leave the safe bubble of our personal mistakes and desires. This Lent I decided to join the crowd giving up Facebook. I'd realized that constantly monitoring acquaintances' lives was making me feel badly about my own. I think my life will be happier and less cluttered without it. Going to at least two weekday Masses is another Lent resolution that I think will help me be more content with the life God has given me.

Last April I attended my first Latin Mass according to the 1962 Missal, and I was less than pleased with it. I walked away feeling frustrated, ignorant, and ignored. I also was determined to figure out this "living history" of my Faith. If the Saints of past generations worshiped this way, I needed to learn how to do so too.

By happy accident, London gave me the chance to do so. The Brompton Oratory (next door to Vicky and Al's!) seemed like a convenient Sunday location, and the 9am Low Mass was the only one that fit my schedule. So I went, navigating the Tube alone for the first time. It was a lovely morning.
It was a lovely Mass too. Knowing what to expect this time helped. Throwing Novus Ordo sensibilities to the wind, I reveled in the priest's whispered Latin and reverently silent congregation. The stillness and mystery was such a nice break from our constantly hectic touring. I didn't need to analyze, think, take notes, or even fully listen. I just needed to be there. And by some spiritual force, my existence was tied up with that of my pew mates and all pew mates from the beginning of time. And most mystical of all, our presence was woven into that of God Himself.

It's true, the focus of the Tridentine Mass is not on "community" or "participation," which are good things too. The theme of Medieval/Renaissance liturgy is"son, you better recognize." Recognize that God is right there! In front of you! Looking like bread! Isn't that amazing?

That is something worth recognizing and appreciating. Like the Incarnation it reflects, the Eucharist is a mystery. We can try to wrap our brains around it and probe its meaning, but there will always be new things to understand. There is more than one liturgical way of approaching it. God will always find ways to surprise us. So I've decided that witnessing that mystery a few more times a week would be a good way to spend my Lent.

London: The Highlights

Thanks for all the welcome back wishes! Just to clarify, I did not sprain my ankle, my classmate did. She and I were partners in infirmity on our Friday day off, venturing out for lunch between naps. We ended up at a swanky organic food cafe in nearby Sloane Square. It was a little overpriced, and seemed to be a popular destination for affluent "yummy mummies" and their tots.

I won't bore you with every last place we saw, but here are a few museums I would recommend to anyone visiting London.

• Of course, the V&A. Not only is Vicky and Al's a mecca of decorative arts, it's free and bursting with all sorts of things. You can see jewels, gowns from the 18th century, the Great Bed of Ware, King James II's wedding suit, Persian rugs, Chinese sculpture, and the new enormous Medieval and Renaissance galleries.
  
• Sir John Soane's Museum is also free, but smaller and with a different approach. It's a Victorian townhouse full of one man's art and artifact collections. There are Roman busts, the sarcophagus of Pharoah Seti I, trap door paintings galleries, and a parlor where an imaginary monk lived.
  
• Brighton - I knew about it as the site of Lydia and Wickham's infamous elopement in Pride and Prejudice. Now I know that it's also famous for punk fashion, beach weekends, and of course the crazy-awesome Indian style pavilion Prince Regent George IV built there. It looks like a huge white alien ship in the middle of town, and the interior is even crazier. Dragons, gilding, palm tree columns, and stained glass are just the beginning.
• The Geffrye Museum has period rooms, but with more selective furnishings than Winterthur's. Also, their rooms span from the 1600s to the 1990s. That's right, you can now see VCRs and a CD player alongside Ikea in a museum display. The museum is a little off the beaten path, but this means there are deliciously inexpensive Vietnamese restaurants all along the street.
  

Of course I did touristy stuff too on my days off - Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, and shopping in Oxford Circus. The TopShop flagship store there was pretty overwhelming, but I made it out alive with a cute necklace. I had to laugh, though, at the section where candy was sold near hair extensions. Yup, that's all a teenage Londoner needs in life.

London Week 2: We survived!

London: It's over. It's so good to be back in the USA, but we had a great time squeezing every last drop of material culture out of London. In spite of: a 2 mile sprinting death march to make a lunch reservation, 3 horrid colds, 1 sprained ankle on the stairs at Hampton Court, 4 bone-chilling tours of unheated houses, and 20 inches of snow greeting us when we got home. We stayed a team to the very end, with a group effort to dig out the cars in the museum parking lot.

Well, actually, we didn't see it all. For every curatorial storage room or church nave I saw, there are three more galleriesI haven't seen yet. For now, I am thoroughly museum-ed-out. I even had to skip the Friday trip to Greenwich, I was so exhausted. In true introvert fashion, I will need time to myself to sort pictures and ponder everything I saw.

Jet lag hasn't been too bad. Despite a nap I am still pretty tired today - right now it's 1:30am in London! Last night I tried to keep myself awake with that all American spectacle, the SUPER BOWL!

I've been lucky to vicariously enjoy the thrill of the past two Super Bowl victories. Last year on e of my housemates was a lifelong Steelers fan, and by January she had us all literally singing Pittsburgh's praises. This year my NOLA native beau has been educating me about the religious and social significance of the Saints' phenomenal season. Who dat?

Hullo from London: Week 1

London: we're here! It has been a full week since we landed, and by now I feel quite acclimated to everything. This is my first trip to Europe, getting a stamp in my passport, yadda yadda yadaa, but what really strikes me is the sameness of it all. Modern human civilization is pretty universal. Everywhere I see moms with strollers, people on cell phones or drinking coffee in Starbucks, businessmen striding purposefully ahead with briefcases. The curators we meet have different accents, but their museum jobs require just as much research and maddening bureaucracy as careers here. And yes, standing around listening to wealthy collectors or well-known authors can still bore me silly. After a while my feet ache and I have this out of body listening experience where I can hear words, but they don't make sense. Perhaps I have chosen the wrong field? But then I see things like 1600s furniture, or late 1800s communion vessels, and I start smiling again.