Life in America: Three Weeks Post Hip Surgery

 “You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” —Marcus Aurelius

I think this quote is true, but I think it does, potentially at least, diminish the importance of engaged work for change in the work. Aurelius, himself, was quite engaged with the world, being Emperor and all.

Here's a nice supplement from the Gita. 

“Perform your obligatory duty because action is indeed better than inaction.”

Because of my current physical situation, I have not been able to perform the "obligatory" duty of protesting with others. But, it occurs to me that writing about being alive, if not an act of protest is, at least, an act of bearing witness.   I've been struggling a bit with the focus of the blog now that I don't write so much about life in Iyengarland, and realized that maybe just chronicling what it is like to be a thoughtful person living through these times is enough of an "may you live in interesting times" focus. 

A couple of days ago,  I realized that  this time of recovery is very reminiscent of the days of lockdown.  The world seems like it is falling apart out there.  There's all kinds of  dis-ease out there.  (BTW, I am immune to measles.) There's food delivery and take out and a lot of zooming. 

In terms of recovery,  I've been in a bit of a mental haze and sleeping a lot, but I feel like I'm coming out of that.   I don't remember that aspect of the recovery before because I was really in too much pain to get much sleep.  I couldn't find a comfortable position. The pain med I was prescribed last time made me super itchy which added to the discomfort.  This time my pain is really pretty localized around the surgery wound and because I've been so much less dependent on the walker and the cane the whole recovery has not whacked both of my shoulders out as well. 

So, in all, much smoother so far. 

Today, I participated in a panel  (via Zoom for me) for  Women's History Month, sponsored by the Office of Multi-cultural affairs.   The four panelists were each asked to share stories of women who have been important in their lives.  Though I am a bit older than the other panelists, I think the oldest of the others was born in 1973, I was really amazed and moved at the similarities of our stories. 

Things ranging from pop culture examples like  Wonder Woman to Charlie's Angels to cultural moments like Anita Hill (gosh, life in America really could have gone in a different direction if that testimony had been allowed to play out) to  books like  de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, to  teachers who took an interest and inspired, to family. 

I first talked about Momzy and then the moved to the South.  I liked school up in the Northland. I had a really good female art teacher whose name I do not recall, but nothing particularly stands out from school as putting me on the intellectual wepath I have been on.  It was really the move to Chapel Hill that did that.  Observing the differences between North and South, not being raised culturally Southern despite having Southern parents, the difference of the racial landscape were probably the first real events that began to turn me to philosophy.    The first female teacher I really remember taking an interest in me as a person, was Sara Claytor. She was the Gifted and Talented teacher at Culbreth and I could sense that she sensed something in me that made me want to live upto whatever potential I had. 

In high school, I remember Ms. Lancaster and Ms. Barnard, but I was one among many, many smart kids and I'm not really sure they saw me as anyone particularly special in terms of academic aptitude. 

It really wasn't until I went to Trinity that I became a serious student. There, it was Vicki Aarons and Laura Mooneyham who modelled how to be a female academic in a way that made it be a life I could imagine myself living.  Also, the  experience of being a Peer Mentor and Vicki inviting me to come to her office to talk before every class.  

In terms of the philosophical spark though, it was really my male teachers who were the catalysts for falling in love with philosophy itself.   Willis, Chuck, Larry.   So, I do get it when people say a mentor doesn't  have to "look like you" to be an effective mentor. True, but in terms of  seeing yourself in a role, I still think it does matter. 

This is one, among many of the reasons, why this current erasure of  "identity"  is so troubling. Representation matters. 

In college, I had exactly one female philosophy professor.  She made an impression on me simply because she was the only female in the department and she was young. That must have been her first job. She has gone onto have quite an impressive career and I look her up on the internet from time to time, but I don't remember feeling like she took an interest in me personally.   

At Penn State, there were three female faculty members out of  oh maybe fifteen faculty at the time.  (Actually, that is not such a bad percentage particularly for the time of the late 80s early 90s.)    But, I was there to study with Rosen and  they did different sorts of philosophy,  so I was not particularly close to any of them, but I do remember them starting a female philosopher support group toward the end of my time there and remember feeling supported by it. 

I closed talking a bit about how Baylor has changed over the three decades  I've been there. Back then, there were very few female faculty members, particularly young ones on tenure track, but now there's a really vital network of female academics that is really inspiring to see.  

Anyway, it was a fun and thoughtful event to be able to participate in  from the confines of our home office blue Zoom Room.   

Christina asked me the other day how much all the political changes is affecting my academic life.  Thus far, working at a private institution  has provided a bit of insulation from the crazy, but one only has to read the Facebook feed to know that even a small circle out, one town over etc, and things have been pretty radically affected already.  

So that's today's update. 

In other news,  Gabby defended her dissertation yesterday morning. She's the fifth dissertation student  I've directed (well, six but one dropped out). Of the five, two have been women.  Two have been other than white. 

I'm really proud of her for finishing.  She did a good job.