Disappearing Art History? & Jesus Crushing Head Of Serpent

I have sent official transcripts to colleges but I think I need to get them for myself too.  I am noticing my 3.6 GPA is not recorded as 3.6.  I have no idea what happened but possibly some of my classes were not included in transfers? or the lower grade courses were included for transfer but not my good grades?  I believe it's dropped my GPA significantly.

I ALSO found out, I have no clue what else is "missing" yet, but my Art History class from Portland State University is nowhere to be found.  ?!?!  Believe me, I took the class, and I still remember some of the people in the class and some of them might remember me.  I remember the instructor and the slides as well.  It's the class where I first saw this monastic painting in the Turkey chapel/mosque that shows Jesus crushing the head of the serpent (not Mary as Roman Catholic theology later revised it to mean, to satisfy Marian theology).  I remember it was a young woman who brought this slide into class for a presentation and I was stunned.  I could not believe it. 

It wasn't something the instructor presented to us in a slide, it was this young woman who sat to my right and a little bit in front of me.  There was an aisle that split the room up, with stairs and levels and long tables with chairs pushed in.  It wasn't individual desks.  I sat on the left t side (left, if facing the art instructor at head of class) sort of in the center of the room, and this other young woman sat one level down from me, across the aisle to the right.  She had medium blond or light brown hair. (If you ever read this, I remember you!  :))

I talked to her after class, and asked her where she got the slide or what the painting was from again.  I simply could not believe it, because it was something I had studied on a theological basis and talked to the Mt. Angel Abbey monks about.  I said, "Jesus was the redemptor, not Mary."  They kept saying "Mary ("she") crushed the head of the serpent".  I said, "It's "he", not "she"; Jesus, not Mary."  I said Jerome and the Vulgate had it wrong until a better translation came along or someone made a mistake.  Then they said "There is no 'error' in the Church".  I said, "But it IS an error! how can argue that it's not?" I was told, "Even if there was no doctrine written before ??? (date), you can find evidence of this truth in paintings with Mary crushing the head of the serpent."  That was their entire basis for still insisting it was "she" and not "he".  They said "Tradition shows us through paintings what the believes were".  So then, this woman brings in this painting by monks older than the Catholic church.  I mean, they were the first of the firsts.  And it proved that the original "tradition" expressed was that "orthodox" (old, accurate, and first) christianity took the early Bible interpretation of "he crushed the head of the serpent".

This means, it is Christ who conquered "original sin" and who vanquished the penalty, and Mary has nothing to do with it.  She was a blessed woman who gave birth to a savior, if you want to get right down to the original roots of christianity.

Anyway, this class that rocked my world, in 2002, is nowhere to be found on my transcript.

I looked at it tonight because I was talking to an advisor today about what I was thinking of taking and I told her I might take the second part of art history because that's where I left off.  She said the second one or the first one?  and I heard this odd doubt in her voice like she was looking for something and didn't find it.  I said, "The second one.  I already took the first one (ancient western art) and I sort of think maybe I took another, but I know I took the one and I think I need the second one."  So she was quiet.  I then remembered, yes, I took the first one and then I tried to sign up for the second one and I was forced out.

It was crazy.  It was the first time I ever experienced anyone trying to force me out of a class or wanted to keep me from taking it.  I will never forget it.  Maybe that class is on a transcript and I just haven't seen the official copies yet.

But the other strange thing, is how many "F"s appeared that I did not ever get.  It is like my transcript got totally rearrranged.  Some things have changed just because of colleges' style.  One college listed my P.E. requirement as "Lap Swim" and another "P.E."  That's fine.  If they want to rename some things that's okay (most of the time).  But disappearing classes is really odd.  So I have to investigate this.

I remember too, that a couple of monks (new ones, practicing ones, like interns) from Mt. Angel Abbey were in my class too and they sat behind me.  One was sort of surly with dark brown hair.  That year, 2002, was quite the year.

I felt incredibly validated when I saw this painting in the class, like God himself had done this favor for me, to show I wasn't just "mindless chatter" or trying to twist something.  And then I remember a lot of bad things happened.  My Grandpa Garrett was killed.  And I recall when I asked for an extension of time from the Judge because of it, it was granted and then later John Kaempf mocked me to the Judge saying, "It was her GRANDPA, not an immediate member of the family."  As if my Grandpa's death didn't matter.

I had no idea then, what an impact this would have for all of us.