Chris Palladino’s Blog

If you are from the Philadelphia area the title of this will resonate with you. The Philadelphia Phillies will play Game One of the World Series of Baseball tomorrow night.

I grew up in Northeast Philadelphia with all the angst that comes with decades of losing seasons but with some glimmer of light (Phillies in 1980, 76ers in 1983, Villanova in 1985). I have never been a rabid fan but I did care. However, in 1994 I moved to Central Virginia to begin a teaching career. Slowly but surely I began to care less and less about Philly sports. With the Flyers losing the Stanley Cup finals, the 76ers losing the NBA championship, the Eagles losing the Super Bowl, the St. Joe’s Hawks and Villanova Wildcats losing in the Elite Eight, and even Smarty Jones, a Philadelphia area raised horse, losing in the last leg of the Triple Crown I did not spend much time or emotion on these events.

Then in 2006 I moved back … and began to care again.

Go Phils!

* The Curse of William Penn: Prior to 1987, Penn's statue atop Philadelphia City Hall was the highest point in the City of Brotherly Love. Then, in March of 1987, the One Liberty Place skyscraper was constructed, and became the first of many other buildings to exceed the statue of Penn. Thus, causing Mr. Penn to become irate with the city and leading him to haunt Philadelphia professional sports teams. Since the addition of One Liberty Place, Philly has witnessed failures after "oh-so-close" failures on the diamond, the ice, the hardwood, and the field. – Patrick Bower

Posted by Chris Palladino at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The 19th century romantic poet John Keats penned the following stanza as the opening to his celebration of autumn. This fall break has reminded me of the beauty of these words and how God has blessed us with the opportunity to enjoy the seasons and his creation, as well as poetry … if we would only pause and reflect.

“SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.�

We did not travel to the Appalachian Trail as planned, but opted to stay closer to home. We are heading to Wisconsin to teach for a week at the end of the month and thought 44 hours in the car will be enough road experience to come. So what did we do?

On Saturday I ran 17 miles in the early morning at Washington Crossing State Park in NJ. The leaves crunching under foot and the trees bursting with color filled my heart. Yes! Fall is back! Later that afternoon we packed the children and their bikes and journeyed to Mercer County Park also just across the river in NJ. My son and I traveled the bike paths (I run beside him) and several miles later met up with my wife and daughter along the lake at the park’s newest playground. Several times along the bike path we stopped briefly to take in the scenery. At the playground our children quickly joined other children on the apparatus. Meanwhile, we enjoyed a view of the sun setting as it reflected off the lake.

On Sunday I was able to run 13 miles before church and later finished my second reading of Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I am nearly finished with One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn, which my wife and I are reading for a faculty colloquy next week. Our children played outside before we ventured to the PBU pond and PetsPlus to look at the variety of exotic animals. Our daughter proclaimed that she wants to be a wildlife photographer and plans on beginning this venture at the Wisconsin Wilderness Campus.

Today is Monday, the first day of break and we are hosting at least 10 students on Campus for a Fall Break Dinner and fellowship this evening. We have lots of preparation but we are all looking forward to it.

Posted by Philadelphia Biblical University at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just returned from my world civilization class and from a discussion that has caused me and many of my students cognitive disequilibrium. .

We have been studying the rise of the Roman Empire and the decline of the Roman Republic. Two days ago the students read portions of Plutarch’s account of the assassination of Julius Caesar and Shakespeare’s account in his play. Based on these accounts and a brief analysis of Dante’s Divine Comedy (he placed Brutus and Cassius in the lowest level of the inferno with Lucifer and Judas) I posed the question of rebellion against government and whether it is ever justified. The students turned in their responses before they left.

After gleaning a number of ideas and quotes from their responses (anonymously) we discussed the philosophy of rebellion. It was a lively discussion with references to, among others, Thomas More, Martin Luther, John Locke, Henry David Thoreau, Oscar Schindler, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X. We analyzed scriptural references from Romans, I Timothy, and Colossians. We looked at non-violent forms of protests such as sit-ins, strikes, and marches.

Posted by Philadelphia Biblical University at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)