8: Filling This Empty Chair: On Genius and Repose (2004)

I [Jennifer] listened to many classes about hermeneutics, and after each class I seemed to be filled with the same feeling of confusion. It was not so much a confusion about what hermeneutics was, but more a perplexed feeling about how this style of inquiry was going to impact my life as a teacher. From what I initially gathered, in some sort of “magical” way, something remarkable from the life world of the classroom would simply present itself to me. It seemed that my role would be to take up this particular event and care for its message, so that the beauty of its daily-ness was gently uncovered and honored. Well, I certainly had no intention of holding my breath and waiting for the hand of the curriculum god to tap me on the shoulder, delivering a profound message! As a teacher, I felt so tangled up in the everydayness of the classroom, I wondered if I could ever step far enough out of the situation to see and hear the possibilities that presented themselves daily. By the middle of October, I had resigned myself to the fact that everyone in my graduate course had received a special message from Mercury, except for me.