lux et veritas
so much to tell! i've been traveling in new england for six days and only just returned home last night. this morning, i had to take my car into the shop to get the breaks looked at (my wallet is sobbing) and i've only now just settled down to work, but before work, i feel i owe some kind of narrative. it will not be complete and the details will, i'm sure, continue to emerge in the coming weeks, but i figure a little something is better than nothing at all.
i left last wednesday for new york and then took the train to new haven, connecticut to visit D and A. i was in new haven for a night and then set out the next day for the literature and medicine conference in manchester, new hampshire. this conference was the official reason for the trip and i had penciled it into my schedule and out of my consciousness, the way one does with most conferences, but it turned out to be one of the many highlights of my sojourn.
for those of you who are wondering what in the devil i was doing going to a literature and medicine conference, two fields that really have nothing to do with what i study, here's the story: in my non academic job i'm a freelance facilitator and one of the groups i do discussion series with are medical professionals (also starting a teacher series soon and eventually, hopefully, law enforcement). in any case, it's all about discourse, and increasingly collective, reflective discourse, and the beneficial properties thereof, which aligns perfectly with my interests.
anyway, the conference turned out to be top notch. i met a bunch of wonderful doctor and nurse poets as well as a gaggle of professional facilitators, many of whom were literature PhDs. there were only a sprinkling of social scientists (mostly historians who received their doctorates before it was possible to do American Studies) and a handful of people who were neither medical professionals or academics (mostly folks who work for state humanities councils) but it was the most truly interdisciplinary experience i have had in years, maybe ever.
everyone had so much passion and energy and every session (that's right every freakin' session) that i attended was worth going to. i will ruminate on the intellectual questions and conclusions in a later post, but suffice it to say, i found it extremely stimulating!
randomly, during a tipsy texting session the night i arrived in new haven, A found that our friend S, another one of the college crew, would be in NH at the same time as me for a job interview (she's going to be a public defender and is doing her second round interviews now). we couldn't believe it! neither of us had bothered to inform the other that we'd be in NH because it's not really a destination state for anybody but political candidates, but it just goes to show you sometimes randomness can work in your favor.
we met up when i arrived on thursday. went to a place with great mexican food in concord (the town just north of manchester) and caught up over an assortment of enchiladas and two giant margaritas. that is, two a piece.
it was so amazing to see her. we've been in touch, of course, but not as much as we ought to have been. you know how it goes, life gets in the way, but what a reunion! we didn't do anything special, but it was such an amazingly comforting and life affirming thing to discover, yet again, how much we totally love each other. and how much FUN we have just doing nothing at all--hold up in concord, NH getting tipsy and counting the hippies who, despite the cliche insisted on wearing burks with wool socks. in that way, it was exactly like college. but it was nice to be older now. both contemplating the late beginnings of our careers. motherhood. politics. and how in the bloody hell to make all those things work together. the weirdness of adulthood. in the end we mostly celebrated our incoherence, both literal and figurative, and pledged to keep each other honest as we have always done. i love that -- as we have always done. it's such a comfort to realize anew that the people i have chosen for my family at the different stages of my life, really do stick.
speaking of family, after i put S on a plane back to virginia and finished up the conference, it was time to head back to the boys. S, K, and i have always referred to them as such, and i don't think age will ever change that. A and D seemed quite pleased to receive me back in new haven, where i stayed with them for the next two days.
what did we do? a whole lot of nothing. we cooked together, ate, wandered the campus, talked shit at coffee shops, read lots of poetry aloud, sipped bourbon (A's a connoisseur), and ruminated about being grow-ups.
we did go see the final fantasy concert on saturday. it was in a little bar called maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ, the home of yo la tengo and a regular near- new york gig for nirvana before they hit the big time. getting there was an adventure in itself, which i hope to report later, but the show was fantastic. there were two opening acts: a beautiful and anti-social super talent named nifty (a new york local with a very low inter-web profile, hence, no link), and an endearing, energetic, and not-so-great canadian hip hopper called cadence weapon. then owen took the stage and he was awesome. slight, polite, practiced, edgy and multi-talented. i was converted and all of us had crushes by the time we left. in short, a good time was had by all!
on sunday, A and D took me out for what is apparently FAMOUS new haven pizza at modern and after we scarfed down the half garlic and spinach, half sausage and mushroom monstrosity, we sat drinking a carafe of wine and taking pictures. A is a hobby photographer too, though he was once much more serious about the art than i ever have been, and we fought a bit about who would get to spend most of the time behind the camera, but in the end there was compromise.
the moral: never fight the photo, because the photo fights back
i believe the same applies here
when there is conflict, arty and inanimate is the way to go
a glass and a half later
monkish, but laughing
d, uproarious
our pretty D, ever agreeable
that last caption is a joke, because while D did not protest being photographed, he has subsequently withheld many of the photos we took of him (it's his camera, both A and i have been very puritanical about moving to digital. i'm now ready to succumb to the times, but A is still holding out. so stubborn). being the only willing subject there were many, but he's counted on our vanity to prevent him from having to pony them up. silly, D. i'll have the photos after a bit of coaxing/coercion. it's just the way of things with D. lucky thing i could not adore him more or he'd be kind of annoying. of course, i'm certain that's the case with all of us, including me. many of you can testify, i'm sure!
anyway, that's all for now. more after i get a bit of work done. there's oddles of gossip left to tell and a few meditations too. hopefully, i'll get a chance to catch up on my lj and blog reading too. i've missed you all!
i left last wednesday for new york and then took the train to new haven, connecticut to visit D and A. i was in new haven for a night and then set out the next day for the literature and medicine conference in manchester, new hampshire. this conference was the official reason for the trip and i had penciled it into my schedule and out of my consciousness, the way one does with most conferences, but it turned out to be one of the many highlights of my sojourn.
for those of you who are wondering what in the devil i was doing going to a literature and medicine conference, two fields that really have nothing to do with what i study, here's the story: in my non academic job i'm a freelance facilitator and one of the groups i do discussion series with are medical professionals (also starting a teacher series soon and eventually, hopefully, law enforcement). in any case, it's all about discourse, and increasingly collective, reflective discourse, and the beneficial properties thereof, which aligns perfectly with my interests.
anyway, the conference turned out to be top notch. i met a bunch of wonderful doctor and nurse poets as well as a gaggle of professional facilitators, many of whom were literature PhDs. there were only a sprinkling of social scientists (mostly historians who received their doctorates before it was possible to do American Studies) and a handful of people who were neither medical professionals or academics (mostly folks who work for state humanities councils) but it was the most truly interdisciplinary experience i have had in years, maybe ever.
everyone had so much passion and energy and every session (that's right every freakin' session) that i attended was worth going to. i will ruminate on the intellectual questions and conclusions in a later post, but suffice it to say, i found it extremely stimulating!
randomly, during a tipsy texting session the night i arrived in new haven, A found that our friend S, another one of the college crew, would be in NH at the same time as me for a job interview (she's going to be a public defender and is doing her second round interviews now). we couldn't believe it! neither of us had bothered to inform the other that we'd be in NH because it's not really a destination state for anybody but political candidates, but it just goes to show you sometimes randomness can work in your favor.
we met up when i arrived on thursday. went to a place with great mexican food in concord (the town just north of manchester) and caught up over an assortment of enchiladas and two giant margaritas. that is, two a piece.
it was so amazing to see her. we've been in touch, of course, but not as much as we ought to have been. you know how it goes, life gets in the way, but what a reunion! we didn't do anything special, but it was such an amazingly comforting and life affirming thing to discover, yet again, how much we totally love each other. and how much FUN we have just doing nothing at all--hold up in concord, NH getting tipsy and counting the hippies who, despite the cliche insisted on wearing burks with wool socks. in that way, it was exactly like college. but it was nice to be older now. both contemplating the late beginnings of our careers. motherhood. politics. and how in the bloody hell to make all those things work together. the weirdness of adulthood. in the end we mostly celebrated our incoherence, both literal and figurative, and pledged to keep each other honest as we have always done. i love that -- as we have always done. it's such a comfort to realize anew that the people i have chosen for my family at the different stages of my life, really do stick.
speaking of family, after i put S on a plane back to virginia and finished up the conference, it was time to head back to the boys. S, K, and i have always referred to them as such, and i don't think age will ever change that. A and D seemed quite pleased to receive me back in new haven, where i stayed with them for the next two days.
what did we do? a whole lot of nothing. we cooked together, ate, wandered the campus, talked shit at coffee shops, read lots of poetry aloud, sipped bourbon (A's a connoisseur), and ruminated about being grow-ups.
we did go see the final fantasy concert on saturday. it was in a little bar called maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ, the home of yo la tengo and a regular near- new york gig for nirvana before they hit the big time. getting there was an adventure in itself, which i hope to report later, but the show was fantastic. there were two opening acts: a beautiful and anti-social super talent named nifty (a new york local with a very low inter-web profile, hence, no link), and an endearing, energetic, and not-so-great canadian hip hopper called cadence weapon. then owen took the stage and he was awesome. slight, polite, practiced, edgy and multi-talented. i was converted and all of us had crushes by the time we left. in short, a good time was had by all!
on sunday, A and D took me out for what is apparently FAMOUS new haven pizza at modern and after we scarfed down the half garlic and spinach, half sausage and mushroom monstrosity, we sat drinking a carafe of wine and taking pictures. A is a hobby photographer too, though he was once much more serious about the art than i ever have been, and we fought a bit about who would get to spend most of the time behind the camera, but in the end there was compromise.
the moral: never fight the photo, because the photo fights back
i believe the same applies here
when there is conflict, arty and inanimate is the way to go
a glass and a half later
monkish, but laughing
d, uproarious
our pretty D, ever agreeable
that last caption is a joke, because while D did not protest being photographed, he has subsequently withheld many of the photos we took of him (it's his camera, both A and i have been very puritanical about moving to digital. i'm now ready to succumb to the times, but A is still holding out. so stubborn). being the only willing subject there were many, but he's counted on our vanity to prevent him from having to pony them up. silly, D. i'll have the photos after a bit of coaxing/coercion. it's just the way of things with D. lucky thing i could not adore him more or he'd be kind of annoying. of course, i'm certain that's the case with all of us, including me. many of you can testify, i'm sure!
anyway, that's all for now. more after i get a bit of work done. there's oddles of gossip left to tell and a few meditations too. hopefully, i'll get a chance to catch up on my lj and blog reading too. i've missed you all!