And so it begins...

Purpose of this Blog:


1. To keep you all informed of my whereabouts while I am out of country.  If you don't hear from me for a week or two, blow a rape whistle or call the US Embassy. 


2.  To stay connected during what will surely be lonely moments in 75 days overseas, yes, by myself.  Yes, Phil is "letting" me go.


3.  To entertain Teresa.  If I stop doing that, then this is all in vain.  


I decided about two years ago that I really needed to see MORE of the pieces that I teach in survey classes of Western Art.  I have traveled to Syria and Egypt and feel comfortable relaying personal stories of the pyramids in Cairo and the Great Mosque in Damascus.  But I have not yet been to Italy, Spain, Turkey, Greece, and I approach these regions much more academically than I do Early Christian Art, Islamic Art and Egyptian Art.  I also decided that I had not been traveling as much as I wanted.  Sure a trip to Kauai counts as "traveling," but there isn't much self-introspection to be found (for me) on the beaches of prehistoric Hawaiian volcanos.  Vacations just aren't journies in my mind. 


So I am leaving September 12th for Rome--to learn, to witness, to confront myself.  I have been working without a break for two years now, sometimes taking on seven classes in a semester at three different universities to save enough money to go for an extended stay.  This is not a complaint.  One, I love teaching, and adjunct teaching still has to be one of the most relaxed and accomodating jobs I could ever dream up.  Two, I realize that I get to do what people (with kids, with families, with mortgages, with salaries) only dream of doing--take off (with the encouragement of my man), leave a job behind for a while, and people watch in a completely different country.  So working three semesters of five or more classes a year has been a cinch. 


So here you go, Teresa.  Thanks for the idea and for the interest.