Day Seven - Fellowship

Fellowship.  What an intriguing word when you think of it.  As we have heard in our lectures, words have certain meanings and we as scholars must understand what is meant by those words as we study.  Today, I have either used or experienced the essence of "fellowship" in 4 distinct ways.  What once was a low-key day has turned into a mind-exercising experience.


fel·low·ship/ˈfelōˌSHip/

Noun:

Friendly association, esp. with people who share one's interests. A group of people meeting to pursue a shared interest or aim.

Social:
The morning started with a trip to the Smithsonian Institutes.  Several of us decided that we would spend the morning visiting DC and seeing some of the sites.  Our travels took us to the American History Museum, the Old Post Office, and the Natural History Museum.  Aside from a new exhibit on Slavery at Monticello in the US History museum, there was nothing there that I haven't seen before.  But the trip was fun because I got a chance to talk to several of my fellow Fellows and get to know them.  Some of them were on their first visit to DC and the excitement of seeing certain things was contagious.  Even for us old hats, we got a chance to talk and share stories and talk about our lives, our significant others, our passions in a totally non-academic way (for the most part).  It was a chance to get to know them better.  Massachusetts Steve, Kelly, Liz, Danielle, Cindy, May, Jena, I enjoyed it!


Professional:
After arriving back to the dorm, I knew that I needed to work on my paper and take care of laundry.  I decided to venture into the basement with books in hand and work from one of the commons near the laundry room.  Apparently word has already spread around about that room, as a few Fellows were down there with the same idea.  So we talked about the paper some, and we definitely socialized a lot (maybe too much?).  But after I realized that I waited for my clothes to dry for an hour, but never started the dryer, I got a chance to talk with three of them specifically about AP Government and how they teach it.  The nuggets and tidbits that came out of that conversation were valuable, and will for sure help me to be a better APGoPo teacher.  Steph, Christopher, and Texas Jennifer, thanks for the tips and the ideas to make me better in the classroom.

Academic:
We are definitely here in Georgetown for a purpose, and that is a class called Foundations of American Constitutionalism.  To get those credits, we have a paper due next Friday.  Believe it or not, I did get a good chunk of work done on my paper.  But not only have I started to organize, outline and write, I was able to talk to others about interpretations and bounce ideas off of others in order to make my writing better.  A special thanks to May for passing on some notes and ideas, but also thanks to all of the Fellows who I spoke to today in regards to the paper.

Intellectual:
As you can tell, some of these overlap.  That was true of the end of the evening.  I went with a small group to the Epicurean for what started as social time.  As we sat around the philosopher's table (I should note, I call it that because when I have drinks, I am more susceptible to discussing deep matters of religion, politics, philosophy, etc.), the conversations turned to philosophy, religion, and politics.  Now, I have great, deep, meaningful conversations with my wife.  I have great, deep, meaningful conversations with my family, friends and colleagues.  But there is something to be said for have these deep discussions with new friends, particularly ones that you can agreeably disagree with (at least mostly agreeable, right Cindy?).  To Massachusetts Steve, Delaware Steve, and Cindy, a toast to all of you for great intellectual conversation and debate!

Though fellowship is defined pretty succinctly above, it manifests itself in a host of ways.  I got a tremendous opportunity to experience several of those manifestations today.  And it was a great day!

MEET THE FELLOWS: Yociel Marrero is one of our Cuban Fellows this year.  He is an academic from Havana, who has traveled to the US previously to UC-Berkeley among other places.  It was cool to hear him discuss about his travels, and I will always remember his comment at Arlington.  As the mast of the USS Maine was pointed out, and described as the ship in the Spanish-American War, he raised his hand and asked, "You mean the Spanish-American-Cuban War?"  And he is absolutely correct.  In our American-centered education, we sometimes forget about all that is involved.

TOMORROW: A church service, followed by a lot of writing.