Summer Woolly Mammoth Moon
Life changes in subtle ways, sometimes sneaking in a new way of being so slowly that like the proverbial frog we don’t notice. Piles of manuscripts sit on the table I’ve moved next to the computer, for example. They sit like I’ve always had revisions as an important part of my day. Writer work. Those markets tucked away in the Evernote file now call to me, pay attention, submit. And, sometime today, I’ll rearrange, organize the manuscripts into hanging folders in a file box nearby.
Then, another subtle change. That same table will fill up with material related to Beth Evergreen’s religious school, working my way to six lesson plans about reconstruction, about Jewish holidays, about middah, about the Hebrew alphabet. This material gets sorted today in 9 hanging folders, one for each month from September to May. Then files for each class session. Probably holiday files, parsha files, maybe a moon calendar.
When that’s finished, I have to prepare for the adult education meeting on Thursday. I’m going to take the Great Courses I plan to use for the Jewish Studies Sunday Sampler, along with summary printouts for 12 online courses that I also plan to offer for sampling, all in the Jewish Studies general area. The idea is that I’ll show up one Sunday a month and offer a teaser lecture from a Great Courses offering and a teaser lecture from one of the Coursera classes. If folks are interested, then I’ll set up a time, probably in the evenings, for them to pursue the full course.
Rabbi Jamie plans to have a new media setup built into the social hall space with a long table that ends at a large flat screen tv. Supposed to be done by September. It will be connected to the web. Folks can then use the table and the screen to watch more of the lectures as their time allows. What we’re offering here is the chance for discussion, something you don’t get if you view these alone, at home.
These all, of course, are outward manifestations of internal shifts, ones that have come gradually, shifting my internal attention. All of these changes feel very positive to me, making me feel as whole as I have in a long time.