Dead Sea Scrolls

Do you know what the Dead Sea Scrolls are? Well, you should by now if you are a student at RWC. Simply, they are scrolls of all books of the Bible (excluding Ester). In, fact the are the oldest copy yet to be discovered. They were found in the 1950's in multiple caves in Qumran.

Okay, by now you probably think I am trying to bore you to death but I promise this will get interesting. These scrolls weren't originally found by some archeologist or anything, the first one was found by some random kid! Cool huh? Imagine yourself as a ten year old child discovering something hidden in a cave. He didn't originally know what it was, but honestly, I probably wouldn't either. This kid takes the piece of leather to a shoe maker to try to get some shoes out of the deal. Luckily, this shoe maker also knows his antiques and he could tell that this wasn't something he should be making a pair of sneakers out of. Good for him, right? This shoemaker apparently knew all the right people to call and eventually the rest of the scrolls were discovered.

I learned this in New Testament last week. We learned about the Dead Sea Scrolls in Old Testament too, so my original reaction when I saw it on the syllabus was "great... this again?"But I was completely different. The way my New Testament Professor lectured on this topic kept me (and my classmates?) so intrigued. Granted, my Old Testament Professor did teach us well, I just guess I didn't retain as much information on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Even though in the long run it is the same information, it doesn't always seem as such. Isn't funny how two teachers can teach the same thing so differently? 

I don't know how I found this but I was reading through some blogs and I found an art blog with an entry on the Dead Sea Scrolls... I thought that was rather cool because I have never really stopped to think and realize that I guess that is what they could be considered not only historical and Biblical pieces but also- art. 

Another "fun fact"-

Not only were the scrolls in an ancient language, but all of the words were connected. There were no spaces between words, no line breaks, and no punctuation. SOCOULDYOUIMAGINEREADINGANINTIREBOOK THATWASWRITENLIKETHIS Oh yeah, it was all in caps too 

P.S. Nicole- You did an amazing job on your Dead Sea Scroll presentation last semester  :)

Slang is going to be the death of me...

I don't know about you... but when I hear something said over and over again I begin to pick up on it. I try to speak proper English as often as I can but sometimes it just doesn't work. As I have mentioned in previous blog entries, I am taking a Shakespeare on Film course.  On top of that I am attempting to read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte' (attempting being the key word). So, recently I have found myself thinking in this old time English.

If you have known me long enough you will remember me going through my Dukes of Hazard faze. Guess what, I may be going through that again. This weekend I watched 4 hours of the second season. And enjoyed every second of it! Writing an essay right after that was not a good idea to say the least. I was re-reading it the next day...and I realized that I had written the entire paper in southern slang. I had fun translating what I wrote.

Adding on to this mess, today was my first day of OPE's. Now, don't take any of what I am about to say the wrong way because I have a feeling I am going to fall in love with my placement. But, my placement is to an inner-city school. And well, we all know the slang that students use in city schools. Frankly, people use slang everywhere, but it is particularly noticeable in city schools.

To sum this up: Sometime soon I may seem like I just stepped out of southern slum in the late 1500's. Just saying...

Someone isn't Having a Good Week...

That someone may or may not be me...

I discovered something new about myself on Monday. I am not supposed to be writing papers in APA. My major calls for MLA. Somewhere last semester I am positive I was told that all of my work should be handed in APA format, which, by the way was completely new to me. I had never even heard of APA before last semester. So, I had a blast teaching myself how to properly write APA. Well, I handed in two papers in on Monday...

My first professor (Principles of Speech) decided it would be fun (for him) to separate the class into goats and sheep. Sheep being the students who did what they were supposed to, goats being the students who were completely off track. Guess which farm animal I was...

My second professor (Writing and Research) was nice about it and told me it was a mistake that people with my major make often. She told me that it was fine as is and from this point on write all of my papers in MLA.

And oh yeah, that first professor who made the Biblical reference to Sheep and goats... handed the goats back their papers. I had a good Monday. And to add to the stress of my week we were told about an impromptu speech that we will have to have ready for Wednesday (today). It isn't really an impromptu though, at least I don't consider it to be. We can write about whatever we want- it is supposed to be a speech to amuse. It is an impromptu in the matter that our professor chooses people to deliver their speech at random. However, word on the street was that he asks for volunteers on the first day.

So, Tuesday night I got cracking on this speech. I wrote, edited, and prepared for what could and should have been the best speech ever delivered. Well, in my opinion at least. I was pumped for class. Legit, I don't think I have ever been this excited to go to a class. Guess who didn't give their speech today...

I am a master at complaining. It is a talent a have practiced often the past few years. In fact, I am so good at it that even if I had the best day of my life, there would be something I could complain about. With that said, I am going to start looking on the bright side of things.

Reasons to Look on the "Bright Side":
1: My Speech Professor is giving me a second chance to make the paper better
2: Only one student in Principles of speech actually did what they were supposed to
3: MLA is easier then APA- it was 1 semester, there are at least 7 more
4: No one gave their speech today- more time to prepare? Ehh... Probably not.
5: Only 1 more day! No Friday classes for Megan this week :)