Gay Guy in Seminary: Day 071 (My So-Called Life)

Fourth day of reading week, 2nd if you don't count the weekend. I actually did some studying and research today; you should all be proud of me. Read some of Shusaku Endo's Silence for Intro to Ministry. It's about these two Jesuit priests from Portugal who go to 16th century Japan to do missionary work during a time of heavy persecution against Christians in that country. Spent a brief period reviewing Hebrew and read a little bit of Serpent and the Rainbow for Sacred and the Substance; it's about zombies.

Yes, one of my textbooks is about zombies.

Then watched three episodes of My So-Called Life with Marlene, also for Sacred and the Substance. You know, I get the most interesting homework from that class! First, it's chicken soup, then zombies, now My So-Called Life...what's next???

The actual assignment is this, right from the syllabus: find a substance use narrative: be it a film, a novel, a painting, an album, etc… and analyze it in terms of your own faith tradition.

I'm not even really sure I understand what this means, but I did clear it with the professor beforehand to make sure I could use My So-Called Life for the assignment. Hopefully, whatever I write will be close enough to what he was expecting that it'll be okay.

Angela, the main character played by Claire Danes, doesn't really have a drug narrative, so I'm going to be writing on her best friend Rayanne Graff, played by A.J. Langer, who blacks out when she drinks and like to experiment with drugs. I'll be watching the entire series during the course of reading week as research for the paper. Sucks, doesn't it?

For those who have yet to experience My So-Called Life, it is my absolute most favorite TV series of ALL TIME! The writing blows my mind away and the acting is really good. It's filmed like a movie with amazing camera angles and lighting effects with a soundtrack to die for. The characters are real. You just have to watch it to understand. This show is so much of what I am;Angela Chase is SO MUCH of who I am. Please, please, please, if you have not seen it, try to find someone who has the DVD set, or get it from Netflix, I guarantee, you will not be disappointed!