End of May list

Once again, things I have wanted to say are piling up, and now I am going to throw it all down at once.

1. Talking to my therapist as if I were writing a blog (non-interactive) is tedious for all involved.

2. The choke in artichokes is not dangerous, and the word actually comes from the Ligurian word for pine cone.

3. Choosing between online degree programs and in person degree programs is not easy, especially if it is not exactly the same program. The University of Massachusetts, Boston, has an online degree in Applied Linguistics, while Rhode Island College has a Master's in Teaching of English as a Second Language. The first is ostensibly more geared toward theory, and the second toward practical, sociological and historical classroom issues. At first glance, the applied linguistics degree sounds more interesting for me (always love the geekier side of things) but here is a negative review. Positive one here, and discussion here.

I am taking one class from each place this summer, to compare my experiences. I'll get back to you on that one.

4. I have recently taken two weekend classes with the Providence Shambhala Center.
The first was a class called Dharma Arts, where we read parts of True Perception, by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. I am still reading this and enjoying it now. A quote from what I just read while nursing Emile:
We do not accept our individuality. We would prefer to have a prepared menu or a travel guide so that we could take the journey without being hassled by our own individuality.... When individuality exists, as what we are, there is a sense of confusion, uncertainty, and chaos. But there's more room to explore the world and experience the given world and its relationship to ourselves personally.
This feels particularly relevant as I try to find my place in the world. First I tried to see myself as classy gallery artist, then funky art teacher, then quirky mathematician, and now cat-loving linguist with crazy jewelry. So much easier to try to follow a pattern, but ultimately unsuccessful.


Two weekends ago, I took the Shambhala Training Level V, Open Sky. I felt unconvinced that being in touch with reality would not just lead to immensely more intense pain when my seasonal affective disorder swings back in gear (months from now, I know.) Even Buddhists have numbing vices to keep the pain at bay, so why would I want the pain to be more present? Still a question. We will see how this, our last year (I think) in Rhode Island, answers that question.


Comments

Post a Comment

Subscribe

* indicates required

Popular posts from this blog

What comes next?

Image
Surgery was a month ago. Since then I have been sleeping, writing, painting (a little) and playing with my children. Each child alone is a pleasure, although the two together are baking soda and vinegar. I'm not saying which is which. Finally, Laurent took smallest monkey to France, where smallest monkey will spend a whole month alone with his grandparents, because we all needed a break, including Emile. He might even start maternelle,  preschool, there, for a short while. Everyone gets a break, but I miss him like crazy. Starting tomorrow, I will be going to Boston every day for radiation - that's three hours round trip for 15 minutes of being turned into the Hulk. I'm doing it because they will also be giving me more chemo, and I apparently love chemo that much... Every day is hard. It's a mixture of crabby because I might die within the next five years, and blissed out because life is so beautiful, and crying when I hug my family. It's extrem
Read more

Women in abstraction: a century and a half of female artists at the Centre Pompidou

Image
The Women in Abstraction show at the Centre Pompidou was arbitrary, condescending, and totally worthwhile. I mean, Elle font d'Abstraction is just short of “Look! A woman can make a painting! How quaint!”  Still, go. You won't regret it.  They more than make up for any condescension... And if they don't, we're clearly hungry for this exhibit. I counted two women in attendance for every man – yes, really, I counted.   “The utopian ideals of pure abstraction have allowed women artists some kind of entree into art, since a truly universalist art practice would be genderfree... but it was a myth.” - Mira Schor, 2009, from “Some Notes on Women and Abstraction” On a personal note, I hadn't been expecting to have a night alone in Paris. I certainly hadn't expected to have a good time. I'd always associated Paris with exhausting in laws, arguments, and trying to keep up with fast paced conversations in a new language. But my flight out of Charles De Gaulle was sched
Read more

NaNoWriMo and Escapist Literature

Image
My name is Julia, and I am addicted to escapist literature. I'll read far into the night, even through the night, to get to the end of a story. Even a cluster of not exceptional YA fantasy stories, like the ones I've recently brought home from the library. (Librarian: "You know those are from the young adult section?" Me: Blank look.) Or maybe the stories are good, and I've just had a temporary raising of the bar for books in general, from having finished Abigail Thomas' memoir, Three Dog Life . Which is one of those books full of truth written beautifully, that often made me laugh, about loss of what we know, and loving what takes its place. Profound, in other words. Most of what I read isn't profound. My mother, who worked in a bookstore for part of my childhood, brought home great boxes of books without their covers. Some of my all time favorite books, of which I know every illustration, I wouldn't recognize on your coffee table at a
Read more