Saturday, January 19, 2008

Three Beautiful Things 01/14-18/08: Classroom Instruction, Laughter, Snug Nearby

1. The demon depression has returned and under its weight I've not been able to move my inner heaven and earth to write on my blog. But, the first beautiful thing about this past week is that I have felt pleasure in the classroom and I think my instruction regarding Eastern and Western ways of thinking about and seeing the world has been effective. I think our discussions in World Literature of Gilgamesh as a hero and why it is important that he learns that all is impermanent has also rung true.

2. My students make me laugh. Laughter vs. depression makes me hurt because of how hard the depression fights against my laughter. It's Ali/Frazier: the playful, irreverent Ali vs. the brooding, soul-injured Frazier. Ali won some rounds this week, especially in the classroom and I'm more grateful than I can express to my students for sharing in some good and hearty laughs together.

3. Snug comforts me. He stays close, he presses himself against me, and we share a hug once in a while and, to be honest, it's beautiful and helps take me outside of this bedeviling feeling of weight pressing down and depression.

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