Orientation

Ah hah! Now I'm starting to get it.

The department Orientation was Wednesday 3:30-5:00. They really should have done that one first—I got so much more out of it and am consequently so much better oriented now.

Still having a little trouble figuring out what classes I'll be taking this semester, but it all looks surmountable at this stage.

Met some of my fellow students and was pleasantly impressed with the folks that, as one of the professors put it, I'll be seeing for the rest of my life at school, work, and conferences.

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I've been thinking more about my dissertation topic. I suspect I'll be thinking even more about it over the next few years, since, in point of fact, I don't have to have a proposal for at least two more years. Still, I've been thinking because it's a useful and pertinent exercise.

So, here goes.

I want to explore the historical, religious, and folk religious roots of mass culture representations and personifications of death, and how these are adapted, coopted, and consumed by individuals. I might stick with the Tohoku region, or at least use it as my main source. Osorezan and Hiraizumi in particular are good sites to begin a pilgrimage of death in northern Japan.

Japanese authors of fiction and manga have gone to an awful lot of trouble to personify death over the past several years (or more). Why? What is it about Japan (semi-moribund as it perceives itself) now that makes people want to put a face on death? Is there a historical lineage and precedent for this urge for intimacy and control? Or is it a disconnect, a rupture caused by Japan's current circumstances?

And is putting a face on death a Frankensteinian endeavor, or is more like molding Golem from clay? In other words, does it make death more controllable (Golem) and thereby less threatening, or does it "create a monster?" Or is it neither—a process of cathartic play that is more like telling jokes about what hurts us most in order to confront and overcome the tragedy? Or something else entirely?

These are the things that keep me up at night. Well, actually, sleeping with Noah is doing it tonight. Since Mom is staying here tonight, I'm supposed to be on the futon with Noah. And I went to bed around 10:00, but here I am at 1:50 thanks to what I believe the judges are calling a back-spinning high kick.

Let's see that tape again... Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark.