Greetings, Internet! My name is AJ, and I am currently a first-year student at Harvard Divinity School pursuing a Masters of Divinity and ordination as a Unitarian Universalist minister. For a first post to this blog, I wanted to outline its purpose by way of unpacking the title. I hope this will not only make my plans clear to myself as I decide what and how to post, but also serve as a sort of disclaimer to help make sure my posts are received the way they are intended. Language from this post may find its way to an "About" section somewhere here.
I identify very much with the title of student as I currently find myself in the midst of higher education, and have spent only one academic year since early childhood not in an educational environment. But my hope is that I will continue to use this blog after graduation and ordination, so I call myself a student in a broader sense. As many have said, learning is a lifelong occupation, so I trust it will not be a controversial statement to say that I will continually be a student - always learning, growing, and changing.
Further, I choose this name and identity as an aspiration, and as a reminder. Even though I may eventually perform the role of minister, teacher, or mentor, I will want to and should remember that being a student is a necessary and prior part of fulfilling those other roles. I also very much like the connection with the act of studying, and the idea of being assiduous and disciplined. And, as opposed to an investigator or mere learner, being a student seems to imply learning from a teacher. Of course, teachers take many forms and mediums, including my professors, ancient scripture, modern books, nature, friends, my own conscience (in an Emersonian key), and any other conduit of the Oversoul or divine (read: everything). I wish to be a student of life, the universe, and everything.
So, maintaining this blog is merely one way of supporting my ongoing education, or student-hood. Most immediately it will be a place to write down any thoughts I want to, in particular thoughts I want to develop enough to post on a blog. But I want to restrict myself to the unambitious category of scribblings, so do not expect anything perfected or entirely polished. I may well post some ideas that I later reject, or develop in entirely different directions. Or, a post might not be an idea of mine, but an extended set of notes on a concept or story that I've come across and would like to not only preserve but also flesh out and discuss. So, even if no one reads this it should still be a depository of my own notes and scribblings. That said, I do hope many friends, old and new, will engage with what I've posted and we can have fruitful discussions, as that is one of my favorite ways to learn things and exercise ideas and arguments.
I thank you for reading my blog, and hope to provide posts and space that will engender mutually enriching conversations on a wide range of topics!
