This is the week where I need to grade papers for every single class. Happily, most of the papers are decently to well written, but even so, working my way through them is taking time. Most weeks won't be like this.
Let me record a few snippets and then get my walk done before the wet weather arrives.
--I was surprised to hear of the news of the death of Tom Robbins: surprised because he was still alive and surprised that he was 92. In my head, he's always a hippy writer, out there on the roadways, coming up with provocative ideas. In a used bookstore in the early 80's, I picked up a paperback of Another Roadside Attraction, and although I wasn't sure what to make of it, I was intrigued. It's an interesting question, but it interests me in different ways than it did Robbins: if the body of Christ was discovered, would the nature of our faith and practice change? I imagine that some of the sexual ideas have not held up well; in Skinny Legs and All, if I'm remembering correctly, there's a female hitchhiker with huge thumbs who tolerates sexual predation as the cost of a ride.
--My Monday night seminary class on Worship and Digital Technology did a deep dive into AI last night, and how people are teaching machines. We will probably not explore the deeper theological issues in a way I want. I can imagine a time 300 years from now when people are appalled at the way we treat our machines that have consciousness--much the way we are appalled at the way that slave holders and slave traders treated enslaved people.
--This morning, this line came to me: I stockpile tea for the coming unpleasantness. I've had fun thinking about tea in the history of the country, although I don't have a developed poem--yet.
Well, let me get ready for my walk.
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