Transparent Abyss
Forgive me for the self-glorifying tone of the above title, but my annual SUNY summer course on the Hudson River School painters and the 19th century thinkers is starting on Thursday, so I'm trying to make a shift into the transcendentalism amid my present moving fiasco. I've always had only a borderline number of students signed up for my course so I was going to cancel it this year, but of course, I have twice as many as usual... I will just have to allocate more time for discussion and less for lecture!
Last year, I had a student in her 60s whose dream was to go to college and was now realizing that dream, two in their 50s, a single mother who had her son fighting in the war, the other a Christian spiritual leader, a thirty-something who came from Russia several years ago, and a twenty-something Woodstock native whose family are artists/hippies. All were women. Boy, was that an interesting dynamic!
Each class started on a topic like the use of light in the HRS's paintings, effect of booming economy on art, or nature as religion in the 19th century, but somehow we always ended up talking, if not arguing, about the Iraq war. But it was not until the last class which was held on top of a hill looking at the sunset with bottles of wine, that everyone agreed Bush had to go. Once we all knew where we stood, there was a sense of relief. The Christian leader said she was afraid to speak up against him. The poor mother was worried sick during the whole time, but she had just heard the news that he was coming home... One thing I'm sure we didn't predict back then is that things were to be worse, much worse, a year later. I look forward to even livelier discussions this year (I may not have to do any preparation after all).
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I am much obliged to Sam at Thistle and Hemlock for mentioning my blog. I always feel I'm not doing enough (now especially), no one cares about a trillium or hemlock or skunk cabbage any way, or too hedonistic to be intoxicated by a peony during a war time. She is my source of hope and inspiration, and words of encouragement coming from her is a sweet nectar for my soul. Of course there are several others I am more than grateful to for their kind support(you know who you are). Thank you, from my heart.
The more descriptive title for the above photo would be Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata), by the way.
1:54:40 AM 
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