It's a good thing my weekend was so great, because the last few days have been less so.

Well, they weren't terrible. They were just a lot of work. Monday was actually rather pleasant. It was officially Constitution Day, so the school held a forum on abortion. Professors of ethics and political science discussed the complex social and moral implications surrounding the issue. Of course, no one came out and gave an unequivocal opinion (I'm beginning to sense a trend here), so I went up to the most liberal-sounding panelist afterwards and asked, in response to her previous explanation of the law's limit in relation to the viability of the fetus, "If we do achieve viability from the point of conception, would that make abortion impossible?"

She said she found the concept disturbing, that we could essentially grow a child without a mother, but acknowledged that the possibility is increasing, especially in light of current reproductive developments- in vitro, of course, but also surrogacy, and more recently, outsourcing the entire process. She explained that the legislation is constantly trying to keep up with technology, for now there are potentially five participants in the creation of a child: the egg donor, the sperm donor, the surrogate mother, and the adoptive parents. Who has the legal right to the child? That we legally perceive these children as property creates a moral quandary which we have no choice but to muddle through the best that we can. We're basically trying to straddle the line between parenting as legally transferable ownership at one extreme and eugenics at the abortion-on-demand other. She made a case for the general altruism of women, saying very few pregnancies are aborted. Her answer, if I'm interpreting it correctly, is to support abortion on a limited level in the hopes that we don't make parenting compulsory nor view children as property. I don't know if I understand her entirely. I don't see how killing children protects them, or our concept of them. I wish I could have talked to her longer.

Tuesday wasn't quite so thought-provoking. Old Testament is becoming a drag. The professor's view of scripture and biblical interpretation contradicts much of how I've always conceived the Bible to be. That would be fine, except I cannot accept his view as intellectually valid. It doesn't seem logical to approach the Bible academically, as an ancient text as fallible as any other manuscript, and then say that it is a work through which we can discover what God would like to say to us. Why the Bible over any other religiously oriented book? I asked him and he told me it was a "faith leap." This does not jive.

In Psych my professor dropped two two-page essays on us, due Thursday. In Communications I met with my Scotland group-mates and discussed our presentation. In Psych Convocation I read Herodotus for World Civ as my Old Testament professor guest-spoke on much of what he's been going over in our class. After that, it was straight to the library until 6 pm. I grabbed dinner, then headed back to my dorm. I really wanted to attend the string bass concert at 7:30, especially since I had enjoyed Friday's piano recital so much, but instead I did homework. Until 10. And I still wasn't finished.

My roommate's alarm went off at 5 am for some cursed reason, and so I dozed only sporadically until 7:30 am. I sat through another boring installment of Spanish, a less tedious chapel, and a fun World Civ class. This last one is my favorite of all the classes I'm taking. I like dealing with ideas, broad historical ideologies. I like my professor. I like my classmates. It's pretty great.

Afterward I rushed to my first Microfinance meeting, the group I previously volunteered to assist with editing. It actually sounds like an excellent cause. Microfinance is basically investing in developing countries with a "double bottom-line": not only profits, but the well-being of those being invested in as well. I think it'll be fun to help them out.

Then it was a brisk walk back to my dorm for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and pretzels, and yet another brisk walk to the library. I dashed off as much homework as I could during my shift. From 2:30 to 5 I did laundry and yet more homework. Then I ate dinner, filled up my coffee thermos, and headed back to the library. I finally slogged through the rest of the homework that's due tomorrow, took a shower on my break, and now here I am, in the time I've got left before midnight comes, free to chronicle all the terribly interesting things I do.