But today, as my first major journalistic task ever, I found myself in a tiny room, with a tiny girl who was intended to be the subject of my righteous, secularist ire.
My college chaplain is not an aging, balding man in a dog collar, who sits with a bible on his oak desk in the deepest, darkest corner of the College.
He is a she, no more than a couple of years older than myself, and about a head shorter (I'm not exactly tall). Her desk is chipboard and the only object that sat on it was an equally tiny laptop.
Basically, the goal of the interview was two fold: Ask basic questions for the purpose of the college news letter, and then ask harder questions for my own personal online publication (this one).
I was going to write my first major post with as much libertarian gusto, as Penn Gillette at a beer, guns and breasts festival.
But this girl was disarming, sobering and quite charming. I could not throw the book at her, (albeit, the libertarian manifesto could fit on one page) and I found the interview was over more quickly than I wanted it to be.
The closest I came to referring to anyone being offended by her position's existence, was jokingly saying that Jehovah's Witnesses may not like the Blood Donation drive she was organizing for the near future.
The idea of having a religious representative in a secular public school, is still reprehensible to me. I can, and probably will, still be able to find a hundred reasons why the chaplain program should be axed.
But... hopefully not too soon as it seems the attack dog has been left muzzled.
The Article
We at Hobart College have a chaplain. Not the old kind with a dog collar and a crucifix, but a young lady by the name of Jo Pang. Educated as a teacher at Utas, she came by the position of Chaplain through an ad put out by Scripture Union. As chaplain she's here to "help out", "get involved" and offer spiritual guidance to those who request it. For the last few months she been around, trying to get to know every body and establish a presence. Currently she is helping to run a Blood Donation Drive for the near future, and will be involved with organizing various other college activities. She can be seen around campus and found in the small office on your left when you walk into student services.
