Dreamed of an African-American man, thick-set and with a short beard, walking in jeans and a black turtle-neck beside the pine plantations on the way into Taupo, near the flowering gorse.
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Dreamed that I was consulting with a student, she wants to write an essay on a particular aspect of South African history. She's written an abstract, it's quite a well defined thesis. She's asking me what grade she would get for that sort of essay. I say it depends how well she develops the argument and how thorough and precise she is with her historical detail but the essay has a lot of potential. She says could it even be an A-? I say yes, trying to figure out how to tell her it could be an A if she works hard on it, but without encouraging her to have expectations for the grading.
I go on to lunch with my colleagues, which is in a large marquee. I'm talking to one of my colleagues about this, telling the story with irritation, rolling my eyes that she'd wanted to know the grade before writing the essay but maybe not saying that clearly. My colleague indicates something to me - I turn around and the student is beside me. I am embarrassed. I try to pick up the conversation with her about the essay again, tell her I think it will be good, and she's polite but I know she'd overheard and is upset and annoyed. Eventually I say something like - you talk about these things to let off pressure at work but it doesn't necessarily indicate what you really think. What I really think is that the essay has a lot of potential. She nods and seems to accept that.
Then I'm trying to get food. One colleague wants something to cool his mouth; he's vegetarian and maybe he's eaten some chili. I indicate a couple of salads, including a tomato salad. In looking for vegetarian food I end up with half a roll of compressed spinach on my plate. I have to move this away from my boss's backside, which is inadvertently very close to it. Then I'm looking for other food for myself and others.
Somewhere in there are two versions of the "seed of life" pattern, one only in outline and one more filled in, but a little further out of sight.
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Dreamed that I was consulting with a student, she wants to write an essay on a particular aspect of South African history. She's written an abstract, it's quite a well defined thesis. She's asking me what grade she would get for that sort of essay. I say it depends how well she develops the argument and how thorough and precise she is with her historical detail but the essay has a lot of potential. She says could it even be an A-? I say yes, trying to figure out how to tell her it could be an A if she works hard on it, but without encouraging her to have expectations for the grading.
I go on to lunch with my colleagues, which is in a large marquee. I'm talking to one of my colleagues about this, telling the story with irritation, rolling my eyes that she'd wanted to know the grade before writing the essay but maybe not saying that clearly. My colleague indicates something to me - I turn around and the student is beside me. I am embarrassed. I try to pick up the conversation with her about the essay again, tell her I think it will be good, and she's polite but I know she'd overheard and is upset and annoyed. Eventually I say something like - you talk about these things to let off pressure at work but it doesn't necessarily indicate what you really think. What I really think is that the essay has a lot of potential. She nods and seems to accept that.
Then I'm trying to get food. One colleague wants something to cool his mouth; he's vegetarian and maybe he's eaten some chili. I indicate a couple of salads, including a tomato salad. In looking for vegetarian food I end up with half a roll of compressed spinach on my plate. I have to move this away from my boss's backside, which is inadvertently very close to it. Then I'm looking for other food for myself and others.
Somewhere in there are two versions of the "seed of life" pattern, one only in outline and one more filled in, but a little further out of sight.
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