Though the Great Tray Revolt failed to materialize (we did not seize the day as we might have- though a good article by a pro-tray SGA colleague should be out as of today), the Student Government Association is off to a very good start this year. Besides that my committee, Policy Review, is forging ahead with its initiatives at an impressive pace, the element of whimsy, rare but necessary to every truly happy and harmonious body politic, is not absent. Most notably, we have arranged for a dancing-procession into Taylor Dining Hall tomorrow, based on a popular You Tube video, to encourage freshmen to run for SGA. Rich existence verily, though I loathe the idea of the original. As I tried to explain to the organizer of the event why pop music, no matter how fun and proper to one's frivolous moments, has no place in the celebration of sublime and sacred matrimony, I came up with an aphorism which expressed the general principle at hand:

The lights are good, except when they obscure the stars.

Restoring the holy to itself is a labor and a full time job; hoisting the worldly to the level and the improving light of the heavens is a still harder task still. Aside from the writing of a few poems which I do not feel like posting, I have been keeping at it by virtue of those constant insights which impregnate existence with meaning, and more still laughter. For the most part, these arrive in my mind as fanciful ideas or associations. Two of the best (since I
am not in the mood to reflect on today's lecture on John Rawls, and I fear the political science and philosophy I am engaged with are somewhat above the rabble) are:

The Society of Future Church Ladies: Aware of the "need" for a female counterpart to the Pickwick Club in the realm of ideas, and inspired by the piety of several young women on campus, I "founded" the society for a few lady friends who, I reasoned, are the future of that breed of church ladies who are the backbone of every parish. [Though probably older, whoever this example of femininity is she fits the bill quite nicely. One of the "members" resembles, maybe more in manners than in appearance, Rozen Maiden's Suiseiseki, above.] They were rather fond of the idea when I informed them of their membership (all that's required is being seen at daily Mass, by me, at least once, and being of course a Catholic in good standing). However, besides the activities they could organize in a Catholic community with a Dickensian imagination- frequent homely crafts events, young womens' book clubs, and dance-offs upon the sending-off or returning of the Pickwick (or dare I dream ~) Club from its adventuring, which in a Catholic context would include advertising for traditional Catholicism and promotion of the home community- they haven't much to do right now. Obsessed as I am with it, a few days ago I "presented" their honorary leader with their official theme song- what else- Ali Project's "Seishoujo Ryouiki", or "Domain of the Holy Girl", though the lyrics are perhaps not a discourse on Christian holiness.

Back to Taylor Dining Hall. I am sure Taylor made an important contribution to Assumption College, the facility is due for a timely rename. I was thinking: in light of Socrates' proposed alternative "punishment" to drinking hemlock- getting free meals for life in the Prytaneum- we should rechristen Taylor the Prytaneum, since, like students basically get fed for free by their parents as a reward for pursuing the life of the mind. At right is not the (old) Prytaneum, but what Wikipedia says was the site of Plato's Academy. I'm glad AC's classrooms aren't so cramped. Not as impressive as the School of Athens, but just as satisfying.