I'm sitting in front of Bart's Books in Ojai after the closing of The Imaginal Institute's First Fools Gathering. It was lovely. We combined lecture with dialogue, with Comedia del Arte, with wrangling over what it is to make or just take community for granted, with good meals and treats, with working issues like assessment in academic and non-profit settings, the changing nature of the academy, with...
The list goes on.
David Miller spoke most eloquently on The Fool, Patricia Berry was in attendance and led a breakout session, as were several other fairly well known professionals working with literature, mythology, psychology, imagination, and approaches to pedagogy (K-12, High School, and "Higher" Education).
I clowned and lead sing-alongs, and immitated flatulence, and made bad puns in a funny accent. Oh, and wore fun hats. One can't go too far away, at a Fools gathering, from being taken seriously. Then again, the rest of the crowd seemed mighty subdued by comparison. Oh, well.
I struggled, as I always do, with where I find myself and groups I am in on the community continuum. It is easy to moralize and look down on temporary gatherings as not really Community. It is also easy to use the idea of community to refer to any collision of several bodies or ideas. I find it more useful to imagine community in terms of a given sphere of influence wherein tangible and intangible needs for connection and support are and aren't being met. ten it becomes more a matter of wondering privately and publicly where we are in the midst of that terrain. What is it like to be here, giving and not giving, receiving and lacking what I and we need and want to be me and to be us. Then there is some ground from which to build a shared exerience and direction.
When that process of listening, including what is difficult to hear, and working to be together well is in progress I am amazingly energized. When it seems to be dying I feel profoundly depressed. Such is my life. I guess that is why I believe association done well builds community and profoundly desire more. That is why I spoke to the group today about that movement, and why I keep trying what I try with ABC and the ACME initiative (or see culturalmovement.net).
Tonight it is time for the Foundation for Mythological Studies evening with David Miller in Santa Barbara before he flies back home to New York.
Oh, and day before yesterday I was walking along Shelf Road up behind an Orange orchard across the hills which breaks onto a fabulous view overlooking the Ojai Valley. As I was hummng a tune that is becoming a song I rounded a corner and came up behind a four footish rattlesnake with a three inch rattle. He was facing away from me (thank goodness) and we both paused suddenly. I slowly hefted the orange I was carrying in case a missle weapon was required, but a snake that size can cover six feet (our interveneing space) quite quickly if he wishes. We regarded each other and then, with a terific burst of rattling and show, he darted into the underbrush, rattling more to be sure I knew he meant it before hiding in complete silence. Stirring is the word I woud use to describe the experience. I am no stranger to Texas rattlers and this was the finest specimen I have seen outside the Loan Store State. Thereafter I found myself occupied with snake metaphors and images, and wondering what portentious meaning might be suggested by his visit.
Guess I better drive to Santa Barbara before it gets much later. | posted by Unknown @ 4/23/2006 03:19:00 PM
