Monday, January 3, 2011

Follow Your Bliss...

This afternoon I tried to take a little nap during my boy's "quiet time." Quiet Time is sort of a Rovian term for the two-hour period of the day during which I constantly yell at him to go back to his room. Today I heard him go into the bathroom at some point. Somewhere in my dream state I realized he had spent a long time in there and thus this might be the kind of bathroom visit where a newly-four-year-old boy needs some clean-up help, but I was also really enjoying my nap. So it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise to wake up to find the bathroom smeared with fecal matter. At some point he also dumped out buckets of toys, and while we were having a friendly discussion about whether or not he was going to be picking these up, he launched himself face first off the couch into the edge of the coffee table, smacking his mouth into the corner. After a time, I was able to stop the nosebleed.

It was then that I reflected how much I am looking forward to residency starting this week. Hamline's program is low residency, meaning most of it is done through correspondence, but twice a year we meet on campus for ten days of workshops, lectures, readings, and discussions. It's epic, exhilarating, exhausting--and sort of like childbirth in that you forget the parts where the anesthesia doesn't work and the faculty lounge runs out of wine so eventually you're all excited to do it again.

The faculty reports on Thursday and we get to meet the new class, and everyone arrives on Friday. I'm kicking things off then with a lecture on The Hero's Journey, though it's been difficult to think too critically about mythical structure when I'm cleaning up blood, fecal matter, and stray Matchbox cars. I'm sure there's some hilarious monomyth joke to be made here, and I'll get back to you on that as soon as my assistant finishes his research.

We'll be blogging from the residency, and while the posts may not be informative, it should at least be entertaining to watch us grow more incoherent as the time wears on. But right now I need to read workshop pieces, work on my lecture, think about packing, and email Claire Rudolf Murphy to ask about the coffee situation in the hotel that we'll be billeted in. See you soon, friends.

12 comments:

  1. Hey, under my watch the faculty lounge NEVER ran out of wine! Besides fanning you with an ostrich feather and feeding you grapes, keeping you liquored up was my top duty as a grad. assistant.

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  2. So after destroying the bathroom, the kid settles down for some light reading with Joseph Campbell. (I will confess that I had a hard time getting through that book -- The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell was more manageable to me!)

    Good luck on the lecture. I'll be rooting for you from Missouri.

    Perhaps you should carry a flask of liquid refreshment just in case Christine isn't able to follow you around, bottle in hand.

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  3. "'m kicking things off then with a lecture on The Hero's Journey, though it's been difficult to think too critically about mythical structure..."; see Kal Bashir's excellent 510+ stage hero's journey at http://www.clickok.co.uk/index4.html

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  4. Anne, the coffee at the hotel is very so-so. Taking Kelly Easton's lead and other faculty, I bring my own for the drip pot in the room and then I try to hit Ginkgo's once a day, even in the cold. Can't wait to see you and everyone. Funny you should mention bliss. I am facilitating a "writing is bliss" quiz at the end of the residency. I hope everyone has some bliss left after ten days. Cheers, Claire

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  5. The hero in this tale is the mom who cleans up the bathroom, wipes the kid's nosebleed, and lives to tell the tale. See you on Thursday!

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  6. > but I was also really enjoying my nap

    There's even a Refusal of the Call!

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  7. Of course, there's also a Road of Trials and Ultimate Boon. You totally hero-ed, Anne.

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  8. Peter, I have no idea what you're referring to.

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  9. Well then. In that case, you've got some cramming to do. =)

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  10. And when the faculty lounge runs out of wine, that's the Belly of the Whale.

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  11. Unless the whale has just swallowed a vineyard. Then it's Rescue from Without.

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  12. So I guess the Rescue from Without from a whale that swallowed a hero AND a vineyard (let's revise that to a ship stocked with wine) would be Captain Ahab showing up, harpoon in hand?

    Except Captain Ahab ended ... badly.

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