The Yankee Talks Funny

While at Kellee's and Bob's on Monday I was telling Kellee about some of my driving adventures. I related my attempts to refrain from calling Route 1 the Post Road, which is is in many places in Connecticut.

"You can tell you're from the North," she exclaimed. "You say 'root' instead of 'rowt'."

In spite of decades of radio, television, and social media, we still have regional pronunciation, vocabulary, and even grammar unrelated to accent. Many of them come from the native languages of our immigrant forebears. For example, my Chicago cousins would say, "I'm going to the store, do you want to come with?" To me that sentence was always incomplete, but it's the way they talked. It wasn't until I started taking German that I figured out where that phrase came from. In German it's grammatically correct. Given the large number of German immigrants, and those who spoke other Germanic languages, into the upper Midwest, it's no surprise that some of those speaking patterns found their way into everyday English in the region.

And there are numerous examples of word usage.

What do you call a carbonated beverage?

What do you drink water from in school hallways?

What do you call the pan you cook your eggs in?

What is the long upholstered piece of furniture you sit on in the living room?

Language is not static, in spite of what many people would like to believe. It continues to evolve. It's why the English spoken in Britain is different from what we speak in the United States. Or why the French spoken in France is different from what is spoken in Canada. It's why French, Italian, and Spanish became separate languages from the same root language.

And for those of you who get annoyed when people say "aks" instead if "ask", the "aks" pronunciation comes from the older form of the verb.

My Short Commute

This morning I made the shortest commute to work in my entire life. Basically all I have to do to get from my apartment to my office is go down a flight of stairs.

Getting to that point, however, didn't happen as smoothly as I could have hoped. And I still don't have my furniture. The pod remains in Chantilly until next Monday. I felt frustrated when I learned that last Friday morning, especially since I've about reached my limit for living out of suitcases. Later in the afternoon I had one of those "duh" moments. There is a bed in the apartment and a chair. I spent the last few days in my old apartment with only a bed and the stuff that came with me in the car. The only difference here? Bigger apartment, and I can go to the lounge next door, if I want to watch TV.

So Friday evening I schlepped a few things from my room in the temporary guest house to my new apartment. Saturday I intentionally drove to a Bed Bath and Beyond and a Home Goods in an area I wasn't familiar with so I could learn more of my new city. I bought a bed in a bag and another set of linen for the "new" bed and some towels. That evening I schlepped a few more things. Sunday after the long day at Epiphany I went to the nearest Bed Bath and Beyond because I'd forgotten a mattress pad the day before. I schlepped the last of my things to the apartment.

I have now spent two nights in my apartment. Still living out of a suitcase. But it's my apartment and not a guest room.

Some of my friends have, or have had, similar living situations. All of them are priests. One was the rector of a small parish, and the rectory was not just attached to the church, it was literally the same building. One door of the dining room opened into a short hallway down to the sacristy. Another opened a stairway down to the undercroft. Others live in rectories that are mere steps from the churches. I often wondered how they managed to maintain his boundaries. I guess I'm about to find out.

Part of accomplishing that involves making sure I get off campus regularly. My friends will help with that; I have social engagements on my calendar with folks who are not related to the Seminary. And I've already mapped out places I want to visit during the weekends--at least one new place each month for a while. I'll go back to some places regularly--Mount Vernon, the Smithsonian, and Old Town. After some reflection I also decided to set up a different mailing address. When I was in college we had locked mail boxes. Granted both institutions were larger than the Seminary, but there's something about your mail sitting in an open box until you pick it up. So Saturday morning I also stopped the UPS Store and rented a box.

And part of it is managing relationships within the Seminary community. For that I have a professional network that consists of people I've worked with in a variety of capacities. These are the folks I can call up and get an outside perspective. They will listen and empathize, but they will also be truthful.

Onward.

The Yankee Eats Okra

You knew it had to happen once I moved south. It was just a matter of time. Today was the day.

I went over to Kellee's and Bob's after lunch. We hung out, talked, fixed dinner, talked some more, watched movies, and talked some more. One of the dishes Kellee made was fried okra, which she said her family often calls southern popcorn. She told me that the way she prepares it is different than most people do. She coats it with cornmeal and self-rising flour rather than dipping it in batter.

Can you say yummy?

Kellee's comment as I had a second helping was "I've converted a Yankee!"

Engaging with Epiphany

I definitely did not visit The Church of the Epiphany in the District. They definitely engaged me in their Sunday.

My friend Lisa picked me up at 6:40 this morning for the drive in. As we got our name tags in the narthex folks were checking in to get their number for breakfast before going to activities or to sit in the church. Epiphany serves the only Sunday hot breakfast for the homeless in the area. I participated in the 7:00 a.m. Bible study with some of the Gospel Arts members. After that Lisa took me into the church to introduce me to the music ministers, and I ended up singing with the pick-up choir for the 8:00 a.m. service.

The majority of the worshippers at the early service are homeless. The vast majority of them participate in the service, which is fairly short. The Prayers of the People are truly the Prayers of the People. The priest recognized individuals who indicate they have a prayer, and the prayers continue until there are no more. When the service ends, those who signed up for breakfast are called in order to eat. The choir has the opportunity to eat with the first shift. Lisa and I went up the street to a little coffee shop and had coffee and oatmeal.

We returned to check in with the Gospel Arts program. I did some odds and ends until someone came looking for help with preparing lemonade and ice tea for the parish Pentecost picnic that took place after the 11:00 service. That would be me. Back to the art program to help set up the display for the picnic. By the time Lisa and I went into the church for the 11:00 service, I'd had a full day.

The 11:00 a.m. service was much more the familiar liturgy. It was also considerably longer than the early service. The opening of the sermon was identical to the one the rector preached at 8:00, but he expanded it quite a bit. There was a prelude, an anthem, and a postlude. The Prayers of the People began with Form 4 but then continued with individual prayers like we'd had at the early service.

The congregation was much more diverse than any church I've been to so far. And it's quite clear that the homeless ministry the church engages in is as much with as it is to the homeless. There's also a visible and active lbgt membership in the parish.

Toward the end of the picnic I took pictures of the Gospel Arts display and some of the artists. They try to document every display to report back to granting organizations and to use for new grant applications.

It was almost 2:00 p.m. by the time Lisa and I loaded the pew (one of the ones taken out during the ongoing renovation of the church) she bought into the car and headed home.

I know that part of my engagement happened because I went with Lisa, but it was still and incredible, and incredibly exhausting, day.I could write more, but I don't think more words would do any better at capturing the people and the spirit of Epiphany. In many ways it looks like the parish many of us at Grace Norwalk envisioned, and those still there continue to envision. Definitely someplace I will take anyone from Grace/Betania who comes down to visit!

It's still to early in my search to make any decisions, and Lisa continues to encourages me to explore as many churches as possible. But it's also clear that Lisa loves being a part of her church. And I loved having her share her church with me. Do check out their website.

The Yankee Learns Some History

Yesterday during the Good Reads session of Employee Development Day Mitzi gave us some history of the seminary and the library.

The seminary pretty much owes its survival to the diligence of treasurer Cassius Lee. Yes, of that Lee family; he was Robert E. Lee's first cousin. At the beginning of the Civil War, he put some of the seminary's funds in a Baltimore bank; a treasonous act. However, those funds put in southern banks were either destroyed or worthless at the end of the war because they were in Confederate bonds. He also persistently pursued reparations for damages done by the Union Army during the occupation when the seminary grounds and building served as a hospital. Ultimately he was successful in obtaining reparation funds before he retired.

As for the Bishop Payne Library is not named for Bishop Payne, first Bishop of Liberia, but for the Bishop Payne Divinity School. Virginia Theological Seminary established the Divinity School in 1878 for African-American students who could not be educated at the seminary. The Divinity School closed in 1949, and it's assets were transferred to VTS in 1953. The library holds the archives of the Divinity School as well as the African American Episcopal Historical Collection.

Employee Development Day

I admit, I did not look forward today. Especially given my past experiences with such attempts at community building, which often prove to be exercises in forced socialization. Finally, I decided to approach today as an opportunity to get to know new colleagues.

I did not participate in the early morning run/walk/bike ride, which essentially circled the campus.So my first activity of the day was breakfast. Then we went off to our first of two morning sessions, which were intellectual and practical offerings. I chose "Good Reads," offered by Mitzi Budde, the Head Librarian. I like the way she subtitled her handouts, which were annotated bibliographies. "Brought to you by Bishop Payne Library: your library at Virginia Theological Seminary." She presented recent books in a variety of subject areas, all available in the library. The library collection isn't totally theological. Mitzi also led the second session I attended, "Beyond Google: The Deep Web." The great thing about it was learning about several online subscription resources that are available to me as a staff member! So I spent my morning learning about the seminary library. I still need to get my Alexandria Library card, but it was great to start to get to know the seminary library.

Following lunch our sessions were geared toward more fun stuff--recreational activities, cooking, and crafts. Session 3: :Art of Origami" presented by the spouse of one of the staff members. He gave us a very brief presentation on history and notation and then moved on to doing some actual folding. We picked paper and then made cranes followed by another bird. I kept reminding myself to lock my inner perfectionist away. And as it turned out, we learned that origami paper you buy isn't always perfectly square.

Anne Karoly, a former Church Center and now current seminary colleague, led us through "Crafting with Duct Tape" where we created Duct Tape wallets. We had a lot of fun being creative. Although we cut up a large baggie for the clear panel, Anne has also used a double thickness of clear tape--sticky sides together.

The day ended with dinner together. All in all, not a bad way to spend a day.

Living Out of A Suitcase

Today marks my 22nd day in Alexandria. There is a slight possibility that I could be in my apartment this week. See me not turning blue.

I knew coming down here that the apartment wouldn't be ready when I arrived. I figured that I'd have plenty to do getting the Guest Houses ready, so as long as I had a place to sleep, a light, and a place to plug in my computer I could cope for a while. But now that I've had one real weekend and a couple of 8 or 9 hour days, I'd like to be in my own place. Living out of a suitcase gets really old really fast.

Three weeks is about my limit, even if I'm busy. It's one of the reasons I'm more than happy not to attend General Convention this year. And even though where I'm staying is more Bed and Breakfast than hotel, it's still not my place. It's one of the reasons I spend more time than I might otherwise at Cafe 1823. It's not my room, and it does have the added advantage of getting to meet people and socialize.

Another way I spend time, even though it's in my room, is looking at furniture options. Craigslist is one place I browse, though I haven't yet found anything I'm just can't live without. And I have a list of pieces to check out at Ikea. There's one chair I've wanted for years but haven't had room for. It will probably be one of my first purchases. Of course, it really only makes me more anxious to be in my apartment!

There are some minor things that need to be taken care of. Some small holes in the wall from the cabinet installation; a closet door that opens only with a key; a missing latch on the medicine cabinet; and walking through this morning I realized for the first time that there's no ceiling light fixture in the cooking part of the kitchen. But those won't hold up actually moving in. I'm just waiting to hear from one of our maintenance guys about scheduling the day.

So close!