Oxford Adventures: Day Five. [Last Full Oxfordian Day :'( ]

Sigh. Yes. 'Twas my last full day in the wonderful world of Oxford.

It was as splendid as the rest, and began quite the same - waking up, breakfasting, then down to St. Aldates.
An Anglican-Orthodox bishop named Kallistos Ware gave the address. Sounds like a wizard, yes? He looked like one too, with his big white beard and black robes. He was super cool though. When he first started, I thought he would be very lofty and proper, like most bishops (since I know so many of them), but then soon into his schpeel he cracked a joke - a funny one! - much to everyone's shock. He turned out to have a brilliant sense of humour which he employed throughout his talk on the image of God. He explained the three parts entailed in our being made in God's image and yeah. It was beautiful. I didn't agree with all of his theology though. At the end he was telling us a story about how a man came up to him on the train, fixed him the old beady eye and asked that pointed question: "Are you saved?" Well, Bishop Kallistos didn't know how to answer - on the one hand, he's wearing these black bishop robes... it may have been odd to answer no. Maybe is an unsubstantial answer. And yes? Well... that's not entirely true. He answered the man with "I trust in God that I am being saved." I dunno. It says in one of Paul's books I believe [yikes... I hate not knowing the text] that those who believe that Christ died for us and rose three days later, conquering death will be saved.
I think we have a lot more hope than Bishop Kallistos believes.
But yeah. He's a brilliant man and his meditation was beautiful.
[fun fact: he was in a Socratean club at college with C.S. Lewis! They weren't nerds at all!]

Our first session was led by an American lawyer, Patrick Brennan. He wore Atticus Finch glasses! It was awesome. He presented his talk (on "The Human Person in the Eyes of the Law") very much like a court case - super organized. It was interesting-ish but... I'm not very captivated by the law and all the boring procedures that go with it. But I will say, he was very nice to listen to. He used elevated language and his speech flowed very nicely.

Ok, the icing on the cake! This is the first morning that I've stayed for the entire morning session, simply because I've been anticipating this talk all week: "Art and the Search for Meaning" led by the poet man, Dana Gioia! It was by far the most beautiful, inspiring, and illuminating talk I've heard. Ever. I got goosebumps from a speech!
His whole talk was based around how the academics of our age have become trapped in a world of methodology - they've lost the beauty, usefulness and honesty of art.

Some comments he made were just fantastic - "You do not choose to be an artist - it calls you. It is an awakening which can't be ignored." SO true! Have you ever seen someone who tries to be "artistic"? You can spot such people from a mile away. Being artistic is something that just sort of blossoms - it's a part of your nature.

He explained his past - he grew up in Hawthorne, Cali. which is apparently not a very nice city. His parents were poor - his mom was an uneducated Mexican immigrant an she read poetry to him all the time. Then he talked about how when he was in university studying English, he realized one day that his classes weren't going to help him to become a poet. They were teaching him to write and speak of literature in a theoretical way, which is not universal! As he described it "in a way that the very people I came from would not be able to understand."
So true. Stupid academics. We live in a bankrupt culture.

I could go on and on with details... [I'm definetly buying the recording of his session] but his conclusion was that we need to reconnect ourselves with the idea of beauty and understanding the nature of the world (achieved through the study and appreciation of art). Art refines our intellect, our emotions, our imagination... that's why it's key to upbringing and education! It gives the opportunity for transformation. So. We need to bring it to our education systems, our churches, the media, etc.

After the sessions, we had a free afternoon, but not before all the conference members met at Christ Church College to take a group photo, not important but what IS fascinating is that Christ Church College... is Hogwarts!!! Yes. Much of the HP films are shot in Christ Church.

Next, my mother and I went to the Eagle and Child pub for some lunch - Lewis and Tolkien hung out there lots, so we decided we had to eat there.

In the afternoon I did all our laundry and nearly finished my book [New Moon] while I waited - hurrah! Though I think I'm going to need to by the next book in the series at a bookstore here cause I'm very nuch into it now.

After laundry, I went for a walk and stopped at Unicorn to do some British vintage shopping! I eagerly swung open the door and... uhm. Well. First of all, almost tripped on a few random shoes and piles of clothes, but when I managed to get in, I was met with something most unexpected! A tiny. TINY. Space. Utterly surrounded by mounds of clothes and suitcases and clothes racks and an old dresser and some coatracks and random unpaired shoes almost up to the ceiling. It was mayhem! And in the midst of it, a tiny lady sorting piles of things into other piles of things. So. In the 4 square feet of space in which we had to stand, I did my best to start picking through piles, digging through dressers, rifling through racks... Now, I did find some ver beautiful things - a snap clutch from the 1940's, a beaded flapper dress from the 20's, an embroidered purse from the 70's, etc. But this batty old woman seemed like she didn't want to sell anything... it was so weird! When I asked about an awesome leather jacket in the window, she said "No, it's a 38 men's. The shoulders'll be too big for you." Excuse me lady. I've been eyeing that jacket for a few days now... I've examined it at great length, in fact. I do believe it would fit me quite right actually. (It was so boss... and definetly not a 38 men's. I think it was actually a women's cut.)
Anyways, seeing as it would require me to climb over an immense (not to mention, precarious) mountain of clothes twice my height to get to the window display, I decided to let it go.
After a while of digging, another customer came in and started digging. Then another. Then another! It was RIDICULOUS. We literally could hardly move. And everytime someone asked about something, she either dismissed their request with "that wouldn't fit you" or by naming some ridiculous price for it. She was crazy. I suppose all those things piled up there are her treasures and she doesn't want to part with them. Not a very lucrative way to run a business, but uhm. Yeah. Different strokes.

We went to dinner when I came back, and I ended up beside another student (third year, American) named Rachel. We had a very animated discussion over our salmon (ick) and broccoli
about all sorts of things, mostly ending up in American politics. She explained lots of things to me about what's going on with the election and it was very interesting. She gave me her email address and next week in Cambridge we're planning to meet up to continue talking!

After dinner we had our Oxford closing ceremony at the University church - it was a worship service led by an Anglican priest - he talked about how Lewis was a prophet because he predicted that there would be an age of relativism - well taa-daa! It's here.
Singing in that cathedral is just breath-taking. We sang Holy, Holy, Holy and tons of people harmonized and it just rang through the church so majestically (the acoustics are incredible!)

There was a reception afterwards so people could say goodbye to those who aren't going to Cambridge. My mom and I talked with this couple and their daughter (the dad and the daughter - named Elizabeth - were in my film class) and they're all really nice. Elizabeth is in highschool and she's quite cool. We discussed hanging out next week so we can together escape our parents for a while. Apparently she hasn't taken to walking the streets alone, as I have, to keep her sanity. But indeed! It will be fun. I'm looking forward to a) having company and b) getting to know her better.

Well, I'm quite tired. It's almost 1.

Til tomorrow!

-CH