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epitome of incomprehensibility
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America killed the man with the black-and-white beard. I was at a Christian student retreat in Fredericton, New Brunswick, when I heard this.
What was I doing there? Reading Mansfield Park in the bunk bed and reviving my dormant fear of eternity. Playing basketball in a structure that looked like a translucent greenhouse. That was transcendent. Missing worship music to play Munchkin in the cafeteria, though I only had a vague idea of the role-playing games it was parodying; when I was a teenager, a guy with a name like the one who landed on the moon said D&D was of the devil and I believed him. This game - not transcendent, but fun.
Less fun: going out in the rain with the student group in Fredericton. The raincoat didn't keep out the rain. Being told to keep out an eye for anything unusual, I noticed that a lot of houses were yellow. Was that the case in Montreal? One person pointed out the hidden poverty: students renting cramped rooms in houses that looked outwardly OK. What were Christians to do about it?
Read the newspaper. Read it. It said Osama bin Laden was dead. Relief, disappointment, weird_nostalgia.
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