This Week, Next Week

This post is more a reminder/my reflection than anything else. I've read already the reflections delivered my way and will be writing you letters--not instructive but conversational--as part of this process. What I can see by what I'm reading is that you have been working, that this class is challenging barriers, pressing edges. Edges are fertile places. Edges are usually uncomfortable, and transgression of our edges can lead to self-doubt, insecurity, a recurrence of patterns. However, what I see in the reflections is space, a little here, quite a bit there, the sky coming through. Challenges. New light.

I am challenged by "teaching" this course. It presses my edges. But I'm reminded that--just as we forget clock time is a relatively new invention, or the variety and shapes of stories can be infinite--when we are present with the process, the outcome or product of any experience will reflect our need. In this way, the progression of this class feels intensely familiar. It is like writing short fiction: one word announces the next, you can't pretend to understand the story from the middle. Only later will the tale be revealed in full.

This said, next week we will be shifting gears. The guest speaker hasn't come through for Thursday as of yet, but on Monday I will meet at last with our high school contact and will fill you in Tuesday on their expectations and needs. From there we will begin our outward community work.

The assignment: create a visual representation of your goddess/archetype, replete with tools or weapons. You may use any medium--paint, photography, collage, pen and ink, dirt--but bring your portrait to class on Tuesday.

I wish you all well in your exams and hope for a weekend's rest somewhere.