As I said, I had to wipe my tears reading your note. Not only was it a beautiful note, but your "equals" reminded me of weaving, of continuity. And should I say that life is no less than those woven threads?
Threads, knitting. I learned how to knit this summer and was surprised at how rich our group experience was. We sat together every Sunday for a couple hours, trying to resist the temptation to speak more, but only listen. Sometimes all of us were quiet for minutes, listening to whatever music the Vienna cafe provided us with. We all realized one thing, knitting gave us time to actually think.
Think, research. My IRB got approved, and I can proceed with whatever plan I have in mind. I have been longing to talk with you about research because my focus has been shifting quite a lot since you read the final version of my Freecycle paper. With my current research, I am actually going 'home.' Home in terms of region, of communities, of theme. People said that a dissertation is somewhat who you are as a person, and I think there's some truth to it. I am currently in the process of seeking the dream team aka scholars that would help turning my dream into reality, thoughts into words, and words into action.
Action, community. I still do some volunteer work. Not as much as I wanted to, but enough for me to learn about communities I've living in right now. Last semester I gave a lecture (with a friend Chels) on Space and Place: Learning from Katrina and New Orleans to a community of seniors in the town. This semester I'll be teaching a session (to the same group) about Aging and Anthropology. Guess what I'm using for the class? Yes, indeed, MCB's Composing a Further Life! You got to bring *the* anthropologist right?
Anthropologist, TA. I have about 200 students and I am the only TA. It's going to be interesting when all those quizzes and papers start to come. Every lecture reminds me of you. Today we talked about how part of what anthropologists study are signs and symbols. Signs and symbols are stories, and stories form histories. My mind directly went to two places. One was the Coop where your thesis about naming, story, and history sat, peacefully, waiting for someone to open its pages and read them. Another was SD, of course.
SD, family. And family, you. And M, and J, O, T, and the cat, the house as well as the garden I've yet seen in person.
All those, are what D and I miss. and love. and talk about often.
Good night Rae.
The Cooper house, WY. Created by Nate Y.
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