The Star and The Fish

The Star and the Fish

A sparkling glass starfish hangs over my desk, capturing the light that filters into my workspace. It was given to me by Dr Bentz at the end of the intensive that completed my teaching assistantships with her at the end of 2009. She presented it to me with praise of my stardom in the work I did for the Embodiment KA. I value it as a reminder, not only of my stardom but of my fishdom.

I reveled in my moment of stardom. I basked in the glory of my assistantship accomplishments and the broader triumphs of the Embodiment KA. Over the months birthing this multi-disciplinary course on somatics, I lead the group’s momentum, read more than I usually read in a year, and demonstrated how innovation can invigorate learning. The breath of my writings documented the group’s intellectual evolution and growth as a collaborative unit. I believe the model we created can be applied to multi-disciplinary inquiry with unlimited topics. I would like to project its advantages through a joint paper with Dr. Bentz; I hope that happens. Although I returned to my psychodynamic interpretations on various occasions, I believe my co-teaching relationship with Dr. Bentz flourished during this course. I was working at my boundaries’ edge, nearly exhausting my personal intellectual energy. But I emerged triumphant and ultimately completed the course prepared to pass on its core value.

While I was basking in the glow of my stardom, I remembered that this course began a long time ago. Perhaps it germinated during my undergraduate days with a major in Interdisciplinary Social Science. I acknowledged the various professors who planted the seed for a new paradigm search. Certainly it started at Spring RaP 2008 when Dr. Bentz suggested that we introduce a Felix informational forum for exploring somatics as a topic and method. I acknowledged the many Fielding colleagues who signed up for the forum, shared information, and participated in the subsequent workshops on somatic experience (FGU WS 2009; FGU SS 2009). I realized the crucial coaching of my cluster mentor Dr. Seashore who encouraged me to take ownership of this course offering. I appreciated how the support and encouragement of my cluster mates cheered me on in promoting the course offering and planning. I knew that the work’s depth unfolded under the collaborative creation and execution of all twelve participants. My stardom was actualized through this sea of support, nurturance, and coordinated development. I was a fish in a fertile ocean that represented my materially and temporally sculpted community.

A Haiku to Dancing StarFish

Up and coming Star

Sculpted in technicolor

Congratulates sea