Northwoods Seelsorger

For the last three summers I have taught an online course for a seminary as an "adjunct professor."  This winter I will have the honor of teaching again, but this time as an adjunct for a university.  They call their adjuncts "contracted faculty" (as opposed to tenured faculty).  When I teach in the summer I identify myself by my ecclesiastical title "Pastor," in part, because I am teaching pastors-to-be, and partly because I have a hard time thinking of myself as a professor in the full sense of that word.  This winter, however, since I am teaching university students online I am unsure of what to be called. One site says that adjuncts may use the title "professor" as a courtesy, but properly speaking they are not actually part of the faculty.  Since I do not have an earned doctorate I obviously cannot use that title.  Calling myself "Pastor," while accurate, may not be quite what I need at the university level since I am not opera...

A few years ago I returned to reading fiction on a regular basis.  Since my interest is history I chose historical novels and jumped back in with Con Iggulden's book War of the Roses: Stormbird .  I found the book for a mere dollar at a local store and took it to the deer stand.  I was hooked!  So I checked out the the remaining books in the series and enjoyed every one of them.  What a great way to learn history, I thought, as I kept referring to other sources to fill in my gaps of knowledge.  After Iggulden I turned to Ken Follet's book The Pillar of the Earth , which I had found at a Good Will store and worked my way through that series as well with World Without End and Column of Fire , which took me on a tour de force from 1123 to 1606. I especially like medieval history so this was a real treat.  Follet is an engaging novelist so it was not at all hard to work my way through his tomes (which often reach 900 to 1000 pages each!). I switched t...

I was just notified that my "Ethnicity Estimate" from Ancestry.com was updated.  Turns out the numbers are fairly similar to the last estimate.  90% of my DNA apparently remains connected to the British Isles or the western side of Europe where there is already a genetic connection.  I was pleasantly surprised to see my "Irish and Scottish" estimate increased from 15% to 25%.  That's a part of my heritage in which I have particular interest.  The 6% associated with Norway and Iceland is intriguing (not to mention Sweden!).  My adopted father had Norwegian heritage and I always joked that I had a Norwegian name (Engebretson) without any Norwegian blood.  Now I have to take all that back!  I am still a bit perplexed by the small amount associated with "Germanic Europe," especially when my maternal great-grandmother apparently had a German name (Rupp).  I'll have to watch and see who ends up being added to my DNA 'relatives.'