Thursday, March 22, 2012

bravery, skirts, & you may contribute a verse

french connection skirt, thrifted in seattle last summer

i decided to try a little harder today and wear my french connection skirt, fuschia with a nearly 12 inch border of red mohair, thrifted from the lake city way value village in seattle, which is where all our best family thrifting is done.

the skirt is tight-ish and hard to style, and requires some effort to wear.  today was a day that required effort, so i decided to match it with a little more of a sartorial stretch.

1)  i taught my first locavore cooking class of the new term.  it's big and intense and we made asparagus with hollandaise, meyer lemon tarts, fettucine alfredo (what the kids ALWAYS want to make), and a sharp cheddar fondue with cubes of marble rye.

2)  one student is going through a difficult and dangerous transition.  he's very brave.  i won't reveal what he did today in order to protect his privacy, but it was big & bold,  and i admired his moxie.

3)  i was fasting, day three.  done now, but it required a little more effort to get through the day.

4)  taught my first poetry class of the new term.  i asked the students to bring in a poem that really spoke to them and one of my favorite student poets brought in this, from whitman:

Oh me!  Oh life!

by Walt Whitman
 
Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

                                       Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

these verses rocked me today.  thank you, o student, for bringing it before me again.
o walt!
i can think of nothing right now more affirmative than that last line, the idea that we have the privilege of contributing a verse in our endless city fill'd with the foolish, in our sordid crowd, our empty years and recurring questions.  
how hard, but how lucky!  to have a life & to have the opportunity of contributing a verse! 

legwear:  bare
inspiration: the bravery of one who goes against the dominant culture
looking forward: to seeing my sister tomorrow!

5 comments:

  1. O me, O life ... O that skirt! Most definitely deserving of the effort. Thanks for inspiring me today! Tina.

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  2. The pleasure of your skirt and shoes, the civilized sensuality of your cooking class, the sorrow and self-repair of your student, the ascetic discipline of your fasting, and the sublime headiness of Whitman -- you've put a day, a week, more into one short page.

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    Replies
    1. thank you dear tinarama & dear rovinato, for being audience to it.

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  3. And now I know what sartorial means.

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