Clare Elsewhere

**As a forewarning, I plan on discussing some of my religious and political beliefs. Modern media calls for this disclosure, along with some sort of apology, that "these are my opinions, they are not meant to impose upon your own or discredit your own, just an expression of my thoughts". But I'm not sure that I agree with that. These are my beliefs, the foundation of my actions, and while they may differ from those of others, I should not hesitate to share them, or qualify their validity. Religion is at times considered more offensive than epithets, but in the reading of this post, and the consideration of religion in general, I ask that you pay more attention to the purpose than the prose. You may not believe every word from the Bible, and may even stand in direct opposition to some doctrinal teaching. But the purpose of Catholicism, the purpose of religion, is to love. Is to work every day to bring yourself and those around you to the Kingdom of Heaven. That may sound l

I recently indulged in an afternoon of laziness, including watching "Eat, Pray, Love" for the first time. It's a very interesting, reflective movie that I would recommend (they even speak some Portuguese in it!), but one scene in particular kept with me.  The characters sat down to dinner, and discussed identity: the idea that each city, each person, had one word by which their entire identity could be defined: every little facet somehow related back to that one word, one concept. It's a compelling theory, and one to which I definitely owe more thought, but for now I submit that my word is "conhecer". (cohn-yeh-sehr) "Conhecer" is the infinitive form of the Portuguese word "to know"- but although I'm sure my siblings would love my confession to being a know-it-all, "conhecer" is more of the idea of "getting to know" or "familiarizing", knowing a person or place very well as opposed to knowing a l