Rocky!

Wow. I had no idea there was something so superficial missing from my life, I was positively un-American before I saw this movie. It's really really good, who knew it was a love story? And after seeing it, I really can't imagine my life without the Italian Stallion :) It's even more awesome watching it from the steps of the famed Philly Art Museum. People were going crazy, news crews from Fox and Abc were present and half the city was out on the steps cheering Rocky on and waving their plastic American flags. I do feel more patriotic, and more American if you will, after watching this movie. Definitely updating "favorite movies" on facebook.

- Alicia

Finallyyyy watching "Rocky" tonight.

I came into work today to get a few things done (aka have computer time - facebook, last.fm, my blog, etc.) and thought I'd post my abstract for the research I'm doing here in Philly. It's due at the end of the summer along with a scary presentation... eek! Anyway, here it is. Grab some popcorn and enjoy.

The herbarium at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (PH) is an extensive collection of approximately 1.5 million specimens acquired all over the world, the most valuable of which are included in the Academy’s type collection of thousands of specimens. Each taxon is represented widespread in many cases by dozens of species, notable specimens including those being hundreds of years old, many authored by Carol Linnaeus himself, or collected by other distinguished botanists from the 18^th –19^th centuries… Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to name a few. Also worthy of study are the extensive type specimens of the Polygalaceae (Milkwort) family, especially those from its largest genus, Polygala (500+ spp.) from which the family derives its namesake. The goal of our project for the 2008 summer was essentially to verify the type statuses of 50 of these Polygala specimens (out of approximately 150 in the collection) based on information about each author, species, collector, etc. The steps of our project were as follows: 1) compile a list of the names, authors, and publications of the Polygala specimens chosen to consider, 2) conduct research in the Academy’s library to find and obtain copies of the original publications, some of which are obscure, difficult to locate and are in Latin or other languages, 3) obtain a plethora of information on the species from online databases and various herbaria websites, 4) verify the type statuses of our chosen specimens based on all this information and 5) database and image the verified types. The ultimate results of our research were the proper designation of types or non-types, with the possibility of publishing upon finding new types and by process of typification.

The following are our diagnoses of each Polygala species and their respective specimens uncovered in the Academy’s type collection. Labels were made for each according to our findings and applied to the specimens, respectively.

P. acanthoclada A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 11:73. 1876.

Paratypes (2). Lectotype previously chosen by Wheelock in Mém. Torr. Bot. Club 2: 144, 1891. This specimen was deposited in the Gray Herbarium at Harvard University. In Wheelock’s publication of P. acanthoclada, he describes the type as “Colorado or Utah. – San Juan River, 1875, T.S. Brandegee, (type).” This differs from our two specimens of P. acanthoclada which both have No. 1172 written on their labels, with the description, “On the San Juan, near the Utah line,” written by Asa Gray himself. In further support, the original description of A. Gray lacks mention of the distinguishing No. 1172. Both specimens in the type collection were collected in August 1875 on Hayden’s U.S. Geological Survey, by T.S. Brandegee. One of the specimens’ labels was written by A. Gray, confirmed by comparing the label to handwriting samples of his. The other label, however, was left undetermined – it differs greatly from the handwriting of A. Gray, as well as from the handwriting of Brandegee. It was assumed that the handwriting belongs to J.K. Redfield, whose herbarium donated the specimen.

That's just the beginning, we have a bit more specimens to look through and an article to write and get publish for the lectotypes we diagnosed but I wanted to show the bulk of what I'm doing this summer. The research can be boring sometimes, till God reminds me of the awesome opportunity this is, then I get my act together and start appreciating it more. Most of all, I'm liking biology again, which is completely God answering long prayers for the past six months. All I can say is God is gracious and I don't deserve this summer!

Tonight a few of us are going the Art Museum - aka the Rocky steps - and watching the movie! I guess they do this often and it's totally a tourist thing to do, but hey, we're tourists. And I've never seen Rocky! Basically I expect to be blown away, the way Philly is obsessed over this movie.

I miss my friends, mucho, and wish they were all here, it's hard being in a place I've never been before and with people I didn't know a month ago - but the transition is smooth. My roommate Susan and I have a cute, new basil plant for our window sill, but I haven't had a chance to use it yet. I cook a TON up here. Mostly I just like buying a lot of fresh produce and throwing it in a pot/pan, but I really don't know what I'm doing. Lately my favorite is scrambled tofu, rice, a pepper medley, chopped garlic (I put it in everything) and Masala sauce. It's easy to make and covers a few food groups. I have yet to try out any recipes from my favorite (and only) vegetarian cookbook but there's six weeks left so I haven't lost hope!

Right now I'm thinking about just heading out because I'm not really motivated to work on my abstract anymore, plus I've eaten all my Swedish Fish. Insert sad-face here.

- Alicia

The things we fight over....

This is wonderful and hillarious, who knew we were a society so passionate about rhetorical devices and literary gestures?

Has modern life killed the semicolon?
By Paul Collins
Posted Friday, June 20, 2008, at 4:51 PM ET

When the Times of London reported in 1837 on two University of Paris law profs dueling with swords, the dispute wasn't over the fine points of the Napoleonic Code. It was over the point-virgule: the semicolon. "The one who contended that the passage in question ought to be concluded by a semicolon was wounded in the arm," noted the Times. "His adversary maintained that it should be a colon."

French passions over the semicolon are running high once again. An April Fool's hoax this year by the online publication Rue89 claimed that the Nicolas Sarkozy government planned to demand "at least three semicolons per page in official administrative documents." Parliamentarian Benoist Apparu was in on the joke—"The disappearance of the semicolon in Eastern France is absolutely dramatic," he gamely proclaimed—and linguist Alain Rey (barely) kept a straight face for a video calling Frenchmen to arms. Reporters were taken in, since, like every great hoax, it was plausible enough to be true. Le Figaro has proclaimed, "The much-loved semicolon is in the process of disappearance; let us protect it," and there was even a brief attempt at a Committee for the Defense of the Semicolon—a modern update on the Anti-Comma League that France had back in 1934. French commentators blame the semicolon's decline on everything from "the modern need for speed" to the corrupting influence of English and its short, declarative sentences. It's a charge leveled for years stateside, too, with Sven Birkerts bemoaning the Internet's baleful influence on semicolons a decade ago.

Has modern life killed the semicolon?

Read the rest of the article here.

Too funny not to share.

- Alicia

He knows...

Exactly what I (we) need to hear. I have been feeling a lot like this lately. Lost, confused, worried about my relationship with God, upset at friends that keep letting me down, always frustrated that God and I aren't where I want to be. Especially last night... last night was horrible. It was like I've never been more distant from God's presence and yet, He was a force inside of me so big and fierce I wanted to explode. My heart actually hurt for a while. Thoughts crossed my mind that scared the crap out of me and I never, ever want to experience that low again. I've been in a weird, kind of 'limbo' state since then, quietly apologizing to God for my outburst of hatred toward Him last night, for my actions, for my quickness to abandon and doubt Him. And then I read this, from a friend who sends out devotions through a Facebook group, usually every day. They typically are just 'feel-good' messages to me but recently, God has really spoken through them, moved me and convicted me. I hope that it speaks volumes to you, whether you have made the decision to accept Christ as your Savior or not - for you, I hope reading this will bring you a step closer to knowing Him personally.

"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you."
-James 4:8

Doesn't it feel like for every step you take to get closer to God, you somehow end up taking two steps back? Doesn't it feel like the closer you grow to God, the harder it feels to keep it that way? God desires intimacy with us. So much so, I bet you His heart aches for it. But, unfortunately, a lot of us can characterize our relationship with Him as being...well, distant.
Since we as humans love our comfortable little lives and don't like being out of our comfort zone too much, we like our faith to be comfortable. Seriously...sometimes my flesh wants to cower at the thought of going out and preaching the gospel, even though I know it's the truth and people need to hear it. Sometimes my flesh cringes at the thought of doing something dangerous for Jesus and putting my life on the line, yet I know that my spirit would gladly do it. But let's just face it--all relationships involve risk. That's how God made them. In order to grow in them, it requires us opening up and baring our soul to others. It leaves us feeling vulnerable, but that's how it's supposed to be.
The same is true of your relationship with God. You'll never grow close to Him unless you start becoming more vulnerable and really opening up to Him more. He already knows what you're thinking, feeling, what's in your heart, and the deepest darkest parts of your soul that you hide from everyone. There's nothing about you He doesn't know, so why hide it from Him? Talk to God about your fears. What's on your heart currently. What's bothering you. What you really want to do when you're out of high school or college. What you DON'T want to do after getting out of either one. What makes your heart ache. What makes your knees shake. What makes you uncomfortable. And what is making you hurt right now. The point is to share life with God. You're in a life-long committed relationship with Him now, and just like any relationship, you need to work at it. And you have to want it.
You could stay on the sidelines, a comfortable distance away from God, where you don't have to really do anything except read your Bible every night and pray every once in a while. Or you could grow in intimacy with the Lord by spending time with Him deep in prayer and His word every day, opening up to Him and baring all before Him. The latter isn't as comfortable, but it's what God desires with you. Are you ready to work for it?

Amazing...

- Alicia

God is... hmm.

Well, He is good.

I had an interesting night last night, one of vulnerabilities (LOADS of them), some tears, moments when I thought my heart would explode out of my chest from too much stress and emotion and anger towards the One who gave me life... yeah. More on that later?

I have to head to the library to find some hundred year-old books from dead guys, about a random plant called Polygala verticillata var. ambigua. This job is starting to get monotonous.

- Alicia

Soy, veggies, deliciousness, oh my!

Yum, I love being vegetarian. Sadly, it used to translate into insane healthiness, but the more I am vegetarian with a college budget the harder it is for me to make good choices. I love vegcooking.com, full of both meat and dairy-free recipes, alternatives and cooking tips. I could browse this website all day. Thank goodness for Trader Joe's on 23rd and Market, which I just discovered yesterday and they have some of the best and healthy food for the cheapest price. I went a little crazy and bought peppers, garlic, bananas, apples, apricots, soy milk, hummus, Tofutti Cuties... delish. I'd never shop this well if I were still eating meat, if I wasn't a PETA member with animal cruelty-conscious friends to reveal the joys of Whole Foods and the delicious simplicity of throwing a bunch of veggies in a sauté pan. All the while reducing the demand for meat and other animal products that inevitably supplies animal cruelty. Have I mentioned I love being vegetarian?

- Alicia

Babies, and other good things in this world.

I found this on a friend's facebook (0kay, I found it on a friend of a friend's facebook, I'll admit I'm a creeper...) and I couldn't resist using it. Because folks, this is precisely what I look like when I eat chocolate cupcakes. Any cupcake, really.

This baby - apart from being ridiculously cute - is so happy. I mean, we're talking true, chocolaty bliss. This baby has no care in the world, except how to put the most of this sticky goodness into his mouth as fast as possible - who cares about the mess, or anything else for that matter, when cupcakes are on the line? And it's the same with Christ - how my relationship with Him should be. How's that for a transition.

Let me clarify why I think Jesus Christ is like a moist, chocolate (best if it's vegan!) cupcake - I mean that as this little babe cherishes what is in front of him (or what's left of it), in pure ecstasy over its deliciousness and decadence and simply happy, so I should be over my Savior, Jesus. He should stir up in me desires so deep and unadulterated that I am wholly unsatisfied till I am completely wrapped in His arms and so immersed in a relationship with Him that I don't know where I end and He begins. How beautiful.

Sometimes, especially seeing this photo, however incredibly adorable, I'm reminded and convicted of how often we go after worldly things to bring us short and quick satisfaction. How many times is this referenced to in Scripture? How many Psalms are there from David that lament over this very problem?

How often we reach for those chocolate cupcakes, if you will, instead of reaching out for our Bible or seeking the encouragement of Christian fellowship. That's definitely true for me. How often since I've been up here in Philly, have I chased after the comfort of Law and Order: SVU or even the approval of my mentor? It's human nature, I guess. To want to grab that vegan, chai tea latte cupcake - seriously, yum - from the bakery on 21st and Chestnut instead of just sitting down and talking to God when we're unsatisfied, frustrated, confused, or things get hectic. I want that to be so programmed in my mind this summer that I don't even think twice, I just run full throttle into the arms of my loving God, into the mercy He has especially reserved for me, for His elect. The living blood of Jesus Christ is so much more satisfying than a whole barrel full of dairy-free cupcakes, am I right? Yet the battle continues.

Mostly what I love about this metaphor is the irresistibleness embodied by both. They are so irresistible that both are programmed into my being, as a natural desire to have them. Of course the chocolate part has more to do with being a woman than anything else, but the yearning for Christ, for His Spirit to fill me, has everything to do with my role as His follower, as one of the chosen to know Him intimately. My soul aches for more of Him like my taste buds ache for sugary confections. My spirit wants to be enveloped by His goodness as much as my heart and body want to go against His commandments... but the good news, the glorious news, is that God has equipped me forever with a best friend, a holy mentor, an eternal motivator - His very own, unrelenting Spirit, to guide me from sin to righteousness, to change me permanently from the inside out. One day, far into eternal life, the desires of my heart and my soul will be the same, and my taste for irresistible, chocolaty baked goods will be a thing of the past... that's something to cherish, to be simply happy about.

To bring ya'll up to date on my life this past summer, I was offered a position as an REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) intern at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia - and the opportunity is once in a lifetime, so I took it and I've been here for three weeks already. There are 7 of us that work in different departments of research at the Academy, alongside a mentor, an expert in their field. The experience is beyond valuable and I've learned so much already, mostly about working with others, how to tackle real-life problems and how to stand on my own feet to figuring out solutions, but not being timid about asking questions or letting others know when you have no idea which way is up. Everyone I work with is passionate about what they do and it's inspiring, and every day I feel blessed that God brought me here, and I frequently reminded of the task He has set before me here in Philly - exactly what that is I'm not really sure, I may never know, but I know that I am here to proclaim the good news to those who will hear it, whether through my words, my attitude or actions. This Scripture is particularly important to me this summer, and I hope you would dwell on it and pray that God would make this passage from Hebrews a heart-knowledge for you as you pursue His will for you this summer.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, 2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. - Hebrews 12:1-2

Much love, from the city of brotherly love!

- Alicia