Early Morning Clarity

There's something to be said for waking up several hours before the sun rises. The early morning darkness lends clarity to the events of our hectic daily lives. In fact, it's a very hopeful time to be awake: driving through a city blanketed in an almost complete silence gives me hope to imagine this world as a peaceful one.

Apparently there's nothing like exhaustion and early morning travel to spark my desire to write. And actually, I think it may the act of driving that drives me to write. On my way back from Nashville two weeks ago, I got this insatiable need to write. And so I furiously jotted illegible notes on a scrap piece of paper as I headed down Interstate 40. It's as if the creative yen only arises when it's most inconvenient to fulfill that desire.

I've had so much going on this semester that at the beginning of March I was wondering what happened to February. I feel that this same thing is going to happen for me with March.

My most exciting and recent focus has been on my first three academic presentations - all three of which are taking place within the next five days. My first one is tomorrow around noon at the University of St. Francis. This is the first and biggest one, and it makes me nervous, though everyone has been sufficiently reassuring. One professor continually reminded me that "what is important is the argument you present and not your presentation. ... Concentrate on the substance and you will be fine."

Well my flight is about to begin boarding. I'll be in Chicago in a few hours!

While I'm always a bit sad to leave Knoxville, it's good to have a change every so often. By distancing myself from the norm, I will be able to perceive my everyday life - through defamiliarization, as the Russian Formalists would say - in new and insightful ways.