Week 1 was a good week! I clicked on too many links, found myself chasing happy rabbit trails through the Wikipedia-shire, and became gape-jawed with Sister Nivedita's story. In the late 1800's, she met a swami-ji and followed him to India.... what?! I thought that was a modern, groupy thing that we now hear about current gurus being accused of: encouraging young female followers to come to India and learn from their Ashrams. I guess it has been happening for a lot longer than I was giving it credit! (I am no way intending to disparage those who choose this path, I only refer to it jokingly in that I thought this was a recent phenomenon, akin to musical band groupies.) She clearly devoted the rest of her life to India, including opening and running a school for girls. Her books are still relative today, proving her worth as a writer. So, I have bookmarked Nivedita's Kali the Mother reading option for later on this fall, and I have been looking at every reading from the Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana to see if she was the author of that post. Fun find!
Plus, an Event on Campus: I have a professor who encourages his students to attend the LGBTQ Ally training each semester to that we may become allies and resources on campus. Once the 3 hour training offered to students and faculty is completed, we receive buttons and shirt to wear around campus to encourage those in the LGBTQ community and become informed peers ourselves. This semester it finally works with my schedule to attend. I'll be attending the Wednesday, September 21st training, and if anyone from this class attends the same session, I'd love to meet them! Registration fills up, so I would recommend registering early if anyone is interested in attending.
