It sure is New, but it ain't no Haven

As we walked up the hill approaching Sterling Divinity Quadrangle we fretted about what we were about to experience. It was the first day of orientation. Fortunately, spouses were encouraged to attend so Whitney didn't have to drop me off with my backpack and lunch box (a block away of course... so that I wouldn't be embarrassed in front of the other kids).

Still, our stomachs were aflutter...."Will there be liberals there? Will they still like us? Will they hurt us? What do we do during denominational small groups? Will we understand any of their fancy Yale-speak?" Our minds raced to call to mind the fanciest words we knew. "Churlish. Yeah, let's be sure and use that one..."

Boy were we surprised. Godless liberals? Instead we found that most people we encountered take their Christianity very seriously. Prayer, praise and worship played a key role throughout our week-long orientation. We especially enjoyed the rich diversity of worship styles we got to participate in at chapel. We sang in Spanish, we sang Christian songs from other parts of the world, we sang beautiful hymns fresh from the imagination of contemporary composers. The content? God through Christ redeeming a world broken from the Fall.

Intimidating people? From the beginning we were told that Yale Divinity School is a community and we were exhorted to invest in it. We were put in a small group and got to know several other couples. In a group of 12 people, we had the whole range of Christian tradition. Don't believe me? Represented were Calvary Chapel, non-denominational evangelicalism (us), Congregational, Lutheran, Episcopal, Orthodox, Roman Catholic. And they all greeted us warmly and we've since really enjoyed getting to know them. All were immediately drawn to welcoming one another and meeting practical needs in the transition to our new setting.

Intellectual Superiority? There's nothing quite as low-brow as karaoke. The first night of orientation we were invited to GPSCY. (graduate professional school club at yale). There we watched two of Sameer's future classmates belting out an impassioned version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart". It was breathtaking. really.

Sophistry with Words? While walking around campus Whitney spotted a flier that read: "Nice, homely, experienced babysitter available..." We're pretty sure that's not what she intended to say. . .

We could really tell that we were at the second wealthiest university in the country -- everything was catered all week -- every meal was taken care of, complete with hors d'oeurves and wine. We also learned this week that we are living in the fourth poorest city in the country. An ivory tower in a poverty-stricken area. In our first impressions we were so worried about crime that we didn't really stop to think why there might be so much violence perpetrated against Yale students and affiliates. Yale seems to be viewed as somewhat of a plantation here. A place that has all of the resources but uses them mostly for self interest and not clearly for the betterment of the local community. They own practically every establishment in the downtown area -- all of the shopping district and many of the houses surrounding the campus. It's like a feudal city -- nobles in the middle inside the walls, and all others on the margins. It seems like a microcosm of what is wrong in so much of the world, and even our role in it as Americans.

This removal of shelter has been good for us. The width of Christ's body, the brokenness of our world -- they have become real to us in a way we haven't known well before.

I love New York in June. Too bad we went in August.

Actually, it was fun. We spontaneously decided to get on a train and go to NYC, and then spent like eight hours just walking around Manhattan, basically following the paths of whoever happened to be in front of us. To the right is a group picture of all our unwitting guides. Whitney tells me it was actually thirteen hours of walking -- it was just so fun that it only felt like eight.




Central Park! We didn't even get mugged! We were actually kind of disapointed. We've seen enough Law & Order to have expected more. Hard to believe that only twenty paces backwards from this shot was a bustling city.


A religious icon embedded within a landmark of capitalist greed. Mostly, I like how pointy it is.

This is Saint Anthony's, I believe. What? No pictures of the 9-11 site? No tales of meeting Conan O'Brien or attending a Broadway musical? Nope. just St. Anthony's. Other highlights: we ate at some weird cafe and I (Sameer) stumbled around Manhattan for about an hour with debilitating gas pain. We were approached by Hillary Clinton's competitor running for Senate. She asked us to vote for her, but we told her we were from California. She stopped talking to us.

Actually, we DO plan to do all of that fun stuff in a more carefully planned return-trip to NYC -- we just had to get a trip in before school began and life squoze (squeezed? had squeezen?) out any travel opps.

Pictures of Yale and New Haven

Sick of writing already. Here's some eye-candy...

Sterling Divinity Quadrangle....where Sameer will be spending most of his time. Fortunately it's right across the street from our future apartment.

Jonathan Edwards College....part of Old Campus. Not sure anyone of similar intellectual caliber has taught here since.

Check out the creepy guy coming out of the wall holding the first letter of Jonathan Edwards' name.

Sterling Memorial Library - 4 million volumes. 'Nuff said.

One of the cool churches on New Haven Green

Pilgrim's Progress

As we arrived at our destination in New Haven, we felt a little like the Pilgrims, encountering the New World. It was a strange and wondrous place. Our situation even struck us as quite analogous to theirs – they came in search of religious freedoms, and I came in search of a theological school that won’t contractually forbid me to have a beer. They came with a sense of the limitless opportunity in forging a new and bright future; we came in hopes that I might eventually earn the credentials to actually get a JOB before I'm 35. They came to oppress the native culture, stealing their land, burning their villages, and using violence to change their religion; we came to… well I guess the parallels stop there.

So that paragraph was a tribute to our colonialist forefathers. THIS paragaph, though, is going to be a tribute to MARTIN BARLETTA! We didn't have a picture of him, so instead we have a picture of the place where he arranged for us to stay for our first two weeks in New Haven.

(No, the WHOLE PLACE isn't ours -- just one of the apartments in it). Oh yeah -- did I mention that we don't even have to PAY for our stay in this fully furnished luxury apartment? Thanks to Martin! And we've never even met the guy!

Two weeks before we flew out here, we found out that our housing assignment at Yale Divinity had been mistakenly given away to someone else, leaving us with nowhere to live. After frantically answering personal ads (the housing variety, not the intimate variety), God ended up giving us a great two bedroom place on campus in walking distance to the divinity school. However, it doesn't open up until Sept. 1, which left us homeless for two weeks!

Just as we were starting to make ponchos out of trash bags and scope out the local parks, the Lord provided again. This time, it was through the cousin of a friend of a friend. Tommy Givens' friend Corey has a cousin (you guessed it -- MARTIN BARLETTA!!) who has connections with Marriott. Marriott runs an ExecuStay apartment right outside of New Haven and they agreed to let us stay here for two weeks free of charge -- so here we are.


This is the first installment of a whole series of posts where we intend to chronicle our experiences here at Yale as Sameer goes through his S.T.M. (Master of Sacred Theology) program en route to a Ph.D. (either here or elsewhere). We want it to be a point of connection with all of our friends and family -- so please feel free to stop by and leave your comments!