Covenant College needs help!

If you are unfamiliar with Covenant College you can ignore this post, but if you care at all about the place at all please read:

Covenant has made a grave mistake: the administration has claimed the right to censor all student publications, including "The Bagpipe" the campus newspaper. This document (sent to me by Covenant administration in response to an inquiry) explains the new policy in which faculty "advisors" are now required to act as censors of student publications. All articles must get have permission of the advisor before it is printed, and the advisor can even shut down the publication in order to control "inappropriate" speech.

The stifling effect this could have on free and open discourse would be disastrous for an academic institution. One of Covenant's greatest strengths has been that it has been both seriously and sincerely Christian while encouraging uncensored free thought and discussion on all topics. Now Covenant is in danger of becoming the sort of authoritarian "all Christian students should think the same" type of college that gives Christian education a bad name. Covenant faculty appear to be fighting this as well, but the administration doesn't appear interested in changing. I have Covenant's diploma hanging on my wall. I have always been proud of it, but this raises serious doubts about the direction the college is going.

If you are at all associated with Covenant College as an alumni, a student, or a member of the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) please email Covenant (wallace.anderson@covenant.edu) and let them know that such an ill-advised policy endangers destroying the environment that has made the school great.


You can also sign the online petition here. Password to edit is "freedom"

(click on image for larger view)

The Integrator was a satirical superhero cartoon that I drew for the Bagpipe from 1998-2000. Feel free to email or copy the image to any Covenant related sites in order to spread the word.

Working

Update on life:

I started a one month job working as a temporary doc in a clinic that is short a doctor about an hour from Athens. I was pretty nervous about my first post-residency work, but I'm really enjoying being back in medicine now. It looks like next month I'll probably be working in an ER which will open up a whole new spectrum of practice.

Otherwise life here goes well. It is a bit stressful doing the never-ending work to get our old house in order. We have loved having many friends and my brother come and visit. It is also nice to live so close to the Drakes and Okies. Rather than losing old friends, we regain them!

Home

We got back on US soil on Thursday night. We were happy to go and happy to return: I suppose that is how traveling should be. I return to the US now able to proudly say, "I've eaten squids boiled in ink." (An enriching experience that can only be found in southern Spain)

So now we are back home in Athens, Georgia, aiming for something like a normal life. I am looking into a job that I might be able to start next week. More on that later...

Heading towards home

So today was our last official day of "seeing what there is to see" here in Europe. We have spent the last several days in Seville, Spain. It is a wonderful, old city in Southern Spain. We went to an incredible Flamenco show the other night. Man those people really do dance with serious passion! The other famous thing to do in Seville is see a bullfight. While the spectical must be fascinating, neither of us are very interested in seeing a bull killed in the ring, so we decided not to do that one. So after our fill of fascinating culture, ancient sights, interesting people, and unpredictable food, it is time to head on home.

Over the next 2 days we are going to gradually work our way to Lisbon where we will fly out on Thursday morning. Our last great adventure will be braving the Spanish train system once more! We really look forward to seeing all of you again. This will likely be the last post from our European adventure. See you soon.

Traveling Spain

So Barcelona was interesting in a weird and wild sort of way. We went to the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, which is one of the most fascinating and beatiful buildings we have ever seen.

Then we tried to travel by train in Spain. The trains that our Eurail passes covers are only slightly more efficient than walking. Yesterday it took us 15 hours on trains and in train stations getting only half as far as we had expected we would. Our latest train yet: 2 hours delayed! So today we broke down and bought a ticket on a high speed train, but decided that we would need to cut down out some travel becuase there is no way that we could reach all the places we thought. Unfortunately we had to scratch Granada off our list, so now we are going to spend the next few days in Seville. Just checked into the hostel, and we are about to head out and explore the city. With any luck we may see some flamenco dancing!

Less than a week left in our trip. The idea of heading home is sounding very nice.

Barcelona

Sorry for no posts for a while. Affordable internet connection is hard to find as a tourist.

Since we left Sienna we have been to Cinqua Terra national park in Italy where we stayed in Vernazza and hiked the coast. Then we went to France in order to be distained by French people. Actually most French were quite nice, but the rude ones certainly know how to leave an impression. We stayed in Arles the town where Van Gogh did a lot of his painting. Really pleasant little city.

Today we arrived in Spain, the last leg of our journey before we head home. After almost 3 weeks of traveling we are really looking forward to home. We just checked in here in Barcelona, a very bustling and crowded city. I think we are finding that the smaller towns are more our favorite places to really experience the different cultures of Europe.

Well, not too long before we are headed home. The comfort of home sounds nice these days.

Not all roads (or trains) lead to Rome

So... we never actually got to Rome.

So we took our first and last night train intending to go to Rome. The affordable sleeper cabin resembled an oven both in temperature and cramped space. The train conductor swore the air conditioner worked, but I am skeptical. So we basically spent the whole night sweating. To make thing worse there was an older German man who snored loudly and was in a pretty foul mood. I am pretty sure I got cussed out in German at around 1 am for moving around (but it was all Greek to me). So when the train stopped in Florence early in the morning we decided to forgo 2 more hours of sleeper train travel and skip Rome.

Florence was nice, and Siena has been a delightful city to explore. Apparently it is still quite similar to how it was in the middle ages. Lots of fun. It is also nice to hear from all the tourists coming from Rome how everything you would want to see is surrounded by sweaty, angry throngs of tourists. Sounds too much like a sleeper cabin to me.