Update on the PhD front: First day of classes/First day of teaching is Monday, August 26th…my birthday!
That’s right: I’ll be up bright and early – as I have been most of this week, what with orientation and syllabustering like crazy.
Wish me luck.
On that note, expect the Influences to become a bit looser, and more informal while I juggle chainsaws students.
As I mentioned last week, my birthday has me asking questions. Like: what would my friend Dennis – who passed away three summers ago – think of where I am headed? He told me once during a bout of undergrad existential angst: Get it together – only women can freak out AND still get things done. You can freak out later.
The prose poem below by Eduardo Galeano speaks to how that good man stood (stands) in my life.
***
Grandparents – Eduardo Galeano
For many peoples of black Africa, ancestors are the spirits that live in the tree beside your house or in the cow grazing in the field. The great-grandfather of your great-great-grandfather is now that stream snaking down the mountainside. Your ancestor could also be any spirit that decides to accompany you on your voyage through the world, even if he or she was never a relative or an acquaintance.
The family has no borders, explains Soboufu Some of the Dagara people: “Our children have many mothers and many fathers. As many as they wish.”
And the ancestral spirits, the ones that help you make your way, are the many grandparents that each of you has. As many as you wish.
***
Happy freaking out later!
Jose
The Friday Influence 
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