Comprehensive Exams

Friends,

On Monday 17 May, about six weeks from now, I will begin my comprehensive examinations. The exams cover two weeks, involving written questions from four different professors and then an oral exam. The list of books to read runs for more pages than I care to count. I've been studying since last year. As you might have discerned, these are kind of a big deal.

And therefore, I am asking you for your prayers. As a friend who recently passed her exams explained, "I know I would not be where I am today without God's grace and the prayers of others." Some people might wonder if - big though they seem to me - God is not particularly interested in my comprehensive exams; for someone Who holds the cosmos in His hand, they might, indeed, seem insignificant. But this week we celebrate the Easter Octave, a time when we remember that our God stepped into time and became a man. He walked, and talked and got dirt under His fingernails. He cares about the little people and doesn't mind the messy details of finitude and mortality. He suffered, died, and then conquered death. Thus, I am firmly convinced that God is not only Lord of my exams, but also stoops to care about them.

So do put in a good word for me in the next few weeks. By His grace, I should complete my oral exams the morning of Thursday 27 May, officially becoming a PhD candidate.

Happy Easter,
Aaron


PS If there is a shortage of posts from me in the coming weeks, you'll know why.

Happy Birthday, Guild Review!

Believe it or not, it was a year ago today - the Feast of St. Lawrence - that the Guild Review was born.

In the past year we've had 157 posts discussing a variety of questions regarding academia, art, cinema, economics, faith, history, music, philosophy and politics. We've learned about the advantages and disadvantages of the enthymeme, considered the difficulties and joys of Johannes Brahms, and juxtaposed Nietzsche and Mother's Day. That's a lot of ground to cover in a single year.

Since last August we've had over 3,000 visits by more than 1,200 unique visitors, and that doesn't include data from the period when the internet goblins were obstructing the tubes. We've had hits from 43 states, the District of Columbia and 49 foreign countries.

My sincere thanks go out to all our contributors and readers; your involvement has made this little project possible. More than that, you've made it a lot of fun. I look forward to the year to come.

Blog Features and Beirut

Friends,
Over the last few months, you may (or may not) have noticed some minor changes to the blog. On the right side you'll see that you can Subscribe to the Guild Review (with or without comments) in a variety of RSS feed readers. My favorite is Google Reader. Basically, it takes all the blogs you read and puts new posts in one place; it looks and feels a lot like an email account, and if you already have a Google account you can use the same log-in information.

And you can now join the Followers of this blog! "Now why would I do that?" you ask. Well, for one thing, it lets the world know that you read this blog. (Perhaps you're ashamed of us, but we're proud of all our readers and would be happy to have your imprimatur.) Moreover, it helps people navigate the blogosphere by seeing what blogs their fellow blog readers are reading. Finally, depending on your feed reader, it can make subscribing to our posts even easier!

You'll also list of recent posts from various Blogs That We Read. The Guild Review is not responsible for this content, but if you enjoy what you read here, you'll probably enjoy some of these too. Like a recent post by Santiago Ramos on the Image blog about the band Beirut (which we've discussed before) and the phenomenon of Americans traveling abroad.

Alas, the latest statistics on blog readership have been garbled by the trolls that inhabit the internets, but the indications are a gentle rise above past figures.

As always, many thanks to our contributors and readers!

~Aaron

Welcome, Peter and Emma!

I wanted to give a special shout out to a pair of new contributors who will be joining our blogging team.

As the About This Blog section says, "the blog's contributors are a variety of graduates and friends of the University of Dallas." Peter Kromhout, is not, in fact, a graduate of UD, but he is very much a friend, having graduated from Christendom College, a like-minded institution.

Originally a native of the Twin Cities - one of my favorite metropolitan areas - Peter moved to Washington, DC, after finishing his BA in Philosophy and is currently studying for an MA in Statecraft & National Security at the Institute of World Politics.

Peter is a fan of Jane Austen, fine beer, the ancient Greeks, Irish music and getting himself into tight places in Arabic-speaking countries or our nation's capital.

Neither is Emma Zimmerman a UD graduate. However, this native of the great state of Arizona is a student of the liberal arts and can doubtless run circles around me when it comes to conjugating Latin. In addition to her interests in the humanities, Emma has managed to master the intricacies of science as well: she received a BA in Bioengeineering from Arizona State University and will complete an MA in the same field this spring before heading off to Montreal in the fall to begin a PhD.

Emma's interests include traveling to Turkey, reading long novels (including Kristen Lavransdatter and The Brothers Karamazov, neither of which I managed to finish), throwing dinner parties and listening to This American Life.

So, please, everyone, a warm round of applause for Peter and Emma!