epiphany at the water fountain

Today I finished teaching my 8am class and went to get some food before heading to the studio to work. And when I got to the store, I was feeling really bad. So I thought I needed just to eat raw, fresh food. Luckily I was at WHOLE FOODS and could get organic fresh fruit from the salad bar. Or, you could say I was shopping at WHOLE PAYCHEK and was paying an exorbitant amount for fresh fruit… both these statements, and more, are true,

I got my fruit, and found a shady spot to eat. (A challenge in this heat) But I still didn’t feel well, and started freaking out about getting sick. So I decided I was maybe dehydrated (it is really hot) and my water bottle was empty – has been empty. Then I thought, no, I am just really exhausted. I am starting working at 7am and I don’t get home until after 9. I’m old. I’m tired. It’s hot. Maybe I need a nap.

Okay, where?
Oh, this brings up so many dilemmas about finding safe places to sleep; we don’t even want to go there.

So there is an “MFA Lounge” on campus. I figured I’d go there. There’s a couch. The only people coming in and out are people I feel safe with… so I crossed campus, in the heat, my backpack (the load I place on myself) is really heavy – my computer, all the books I have to read, my water bottle, a change of clothes… (ok ok I am really cranky…..)

And I get to the lounge and there is a meeting going on.
Now I am tired and thirsty. For some reason I can’t seem to figure out where a water fountain is. For those of you who know this campus, this thought is absurd. Every building has a water fountain. But I can only think of one place that has a water fountain. That’s the building (across campus) where I teach my composition class. A building that is shared by the art department and the theatre department.

So off I go. Luckily my car is parked in front of that building and I tell myself I will fill my water bottle and drop off some of these books in my car! I can only read so much at a time…. (cranky, I told you)

But on my way across campus one of my students spots me and comes running up to me
“Did you see my journal after class today? I think I left it in the classroom.”

I apologize. I was so focused on packing up that I didn’t see a stray journal.

She continues, “ I tried to go back and look for it, but my keycard wouldn’t open the door.”

So I told her we should go together and maybe my card would open the door. So we went. And my card worked. And her journal was there. What a beautiful thing. This student is so sweet, and so young – her energy a gift to the world.

Then I said goodbye to her and was standing in this empty classroom, which is a small theatre space, and I was so tired and I realized: its lunchtime. No one is coming in here for at least half an hour. I can get some rest. So I found a hidden space and set my alarm on my phone and did my breathing/resting practice.

I came back to the world and felt better for an instant. And then felt bad again. I decided it was the water thing. And maybe I was getting sick, too. So I pulled out my Airborne salvation, and headed for the water fountain to dissolve the airborne tablet. The water fountain (the only one I could picture in my mind on the whole East Campus of Duke University) is on the first floor, which is in the Art Department.

I popped the Airborne into my water bottle, and filled it with water. Then swished it around so it would dissolve. And swished and swished. Impatient, worried, frantic…. And my eyes wandered to a display..

(okay, it’s been a long wait, but here comes the epiphany)

Here’s what the display said at the end: "Comparison of Europa becomes the archetype of the mother goddess and the priestess. Europa iconography will persist in roman goddess cults and Christian Mary imagery."

After reading the full display, looking at the art work. I felt instantly better.

Here's the whole text, by Art Beacham.

A Woman on a Bull: an icon of cultural unity or assertion of female sexuality?

Of the many recurring themes in Archaic and Classic Greek art the depiction of a woman grasping at or mounted upon a bull is one of the most ambiguous. On the one hand it references one of several stories that unify the pan Hellenic culture in a common Jovian ancestry. That is the rape of Europa by Zeus manifested as a white bull which was one of several myths in which Zeus’ liaisons with moral women resulted in offspring who became the founders and princes of Hellenic states and nations. In this case Europa’s son by Zeus was King Minos of Crete. On the other hand, of the many forms which Zeus assumed for these liaisons such as a cloud a shower of gold or a swan this of a bull is the most sexually prodigious of the maiden’s violation against the ecstasy of her epiphany at the honor of her election.
The tension created by the moral impasse, that is the rape of Europa, found release in an alter maiden and bull iconography, this is a solution unique in classical art and as such a measure of the conflict the image evoked. The image of a maenad upon a white bull both reference the Europa story and gave voice to feminine sexuality in a sanctioned context we are to understand that in the frenzy of a bacchanal a woman mounts a bull to suggest her desire for the consummation forced upon Europa. Through this image the artist and the audience are free to indulge in an otherwise inadmissible perspective, on that both acknowledges and avoids the sexual inferences of a sacred myth.
Notwithstanding the bacchanal was the religious equal of a Jovian genealogy; reek traditions embraced all that was human as fit for reverence yet while the Europa iconography ins congruent with the maenad iconography the bacchanal is not congruent with Jovian mythology that is while seeing a maenad on a bull recalls the Europa myth, a depiction of Europa does not reference a bacchanal. This circumstance encodes a moral hierarchy in Greek religious thought the maenad is the common denominator of feminine nature while Europa is the virgin conduit of a divine heritage. In this context the archaic and classical Greek artist needed details that conveyed a distinction. Dolphins and waves beneath the bull indicated the Europa story, as Zeus carried her to Crete and vies indicated a bacchanal, but the chosen maiden herself needed distinction, esp. if she was to be recognized in other depictions. Thus the mine, headdress, and hand gestures were also elements of Europa's iconography.
- Hugh Beachum, ART 103 Duke University.

If you haven't read the comment I posted to Kobutsu's Trinitarian post, read that, too. Love to all.