My Birthday: Growing Up and Imitation

Dear Friends and Family,

Today I turn 26 years old. While to many of my friends, especially here in Nottingham, this seems quite young, to me it seems as though I am actually beginning to get older. Maybe it’s working with students who are eight years younger than I am. There is just something about this birthday that has finally made me feel as if I were getting older. Life is finally moving forward, it would seem. I’ve started writing my thesis; I’m nearly totally bald on the top of my head; everyday more white hairs crop up on my head and in my beard; students younger than I am are showing up here in Nottingham. I’m not feeling old, simply older. It’s a good feeling. I leave you with a few pictures from my birthday party last night.

My friends decided to dress like me for my party.

We even got the doctor to hold an unfilled, unlit pipe.

Yours,

David

A Prayer for Scholars from Thomas Aquinas

Dear Friends and Family,

I’ve been working on my first chapter this past week and a half. Writing is a draining, but ultimately rewarding process for me. Today, while I was doing some grading, I came across a tweet from Matthew Moser (twitter, blog) which led me here and to a prayer from Thomas Aquinas. I will now try and pray this every time I sit down to write:

Creator of all things, true source of light and wisdom, origin of all being, graciously let a ray of your light penetrate the darkness of my understanding.

Take from me the double darkness in which I have been born, an obscurity of sin and ignorance.

Give me a keen understanding, a retentive memory, and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally.

Grant me the talent of being exact in my explanations and the ability to express myself with thoroughness and charm.

Point out the beginning, direct the progress, and help in the completion. I ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

 Yours,

David