With sadness do I inform you that Atobe's fears from the post of Wednesday before last came to pass. In the words of that Sunday's Gospel reading, our friend was in fact "persecuted for the sake of righteousness," or as an observer of the situation put it, censured because he conscientiously absented himself from a few hours of winter leadership training, and was too meek but to accept that his actions had consequences, unjust though they were (I on the other hand gave a starchy, stuttering speech on his behalf, which was duly ignored). Fortunately, his censure did not include removal from the Student Government Association, so unlike Socrates he shall return to fight another day.

But for today those foul proceedings are irrelevant. As usual, the SGA took the day off to watch the Super Bowl. And more intolerably the Mass--where I would be as I type this were all things equal--was also rescheduled, a typical move that has causes angst in more Catholics than this one. To be sure, I can wait until 10:00, and I am sure the rest of this college's remnant is in the same state, but there is something unseemly about the Church genuflecting before the big game. The chicken wings or, more properly, sacrifice to the football gods by Taylor Dining Hall were delicious, but I continue to worry, for man cannot serve two masters or, more properly, two quarterbacks. Though to be fair, everyone watches this game. Except me, though thanks to a nifty song I even know both of the teams playing, though I am of the opinion that the color scheme in question was best expressed in another song. "Why doncha put it on ya blog?" I did.

These recent weeks have also been filled with Winter Bliss for everyone, except drivers. We have gotten so much snow that of these last three weeks of school, each one had a snow day following a huge blizzard. Were it not for the last two days--today was nearly t-shirt weather--the snow would still be layered almost Verdun trench high. To celebrate the season, which feels like a Second Advent, I had planned to return to my "I sure wish young ladies wore Victorian doll dresses" roots and include a fine gothic lolita wallpaper, filled with winter joy, that I found yesterday, but it was not to be rediscovered. Fortunately, I found this irresistibly kawaii image from, where else, Deviant Art, to foster your hearthbound happiness! (You see, liberals, my reactionary attire aspirations are undeniably prettier than the sweatshirts-or-polos textile world you have created). In addition, I simply could not forego this charming scene (last below) from the brand new anime Gosick, a romantic detective series based on light novels of the same name. Even without the Victorian-inspired fashion (the anime's producers are even collaborating with the lolita dress company Innocent World), conservatives should love Gosick. Read the Anime News Network's summary:

GOSICK takes place in 1924 in a small, made-up European country of Sauville. The story centers on Kazuya Kujo, the third son of a Japanese Imperial soldier, who is a transfer student to St. Marguerite Academy, where urban legends and horror stories are all the rage. There he meets Victorique, a mysterious yet beautiful and brilliant girl who never comes to class and spends her days reading the entire content of the library or solving mysteries that even detectives can't solve.

As my mother remarked Gosick, starring an emerald-eyed blonde and inevitably set at a Catholic boarding school with statues and all, the Japanese once again embrace everything good about the West that the West has rejected (while bravely continuing to celebrate their maligned martial tradition). Oh, and did I mention the opening? Art Nouveau out the yazoo and feat. Our Lady.