Quick Update

Last night, during a conversation with a bright friend of a friend in Pforzheimer House,

I realized that I have danced 12-15 hours a week on average for most of this semester.

astounded,

rossi

Journal de la Semaine, 9-15 Octobre

9me – 15me

Su           Weston, Connecticut: beautiful trees make beautiful landscapes. 

M            Weston, Connecticut: spending time with Robert driving is just like times at home.

T              Weston, Connecticut: Robert has gotten very involved in finding new music, very pleasing to watch.

               

W            Today was boring and tiresome. Ballet was the most inspiring and yet I simply could not muster the spirit to dance. After work, I returned to my room and Matt cheered me up without knowing it. He was just being himself and in doing so inspired me to dance. Jill and Kevin’s wedding entrance helped, too.

Th            Day 1 of 3: Had a very pleasant time talking with and learning about Catherine Katz. The students in Lerman’s class met Kate and Dave today, of room 404 media. They are both very bright individuals.

F              Day 2 of 3: Woke up at noon, which was too late in the day.

Sa           Day 3 of 3: Jun Shepard and I performed our duet for an audience soaked by the rain on a stage covered in a layer of water. Just before we went on stage, the two of us talked through the piece and agreed to make the entire thing more gentle and therefore more safe to perform. It went very well, I would say. The rain was very enjoyable at first. Everything about the schedule of performances and preparation for them was utter chaos and the rain made it all ridiculously amusing. I left for a time with a very bad attitude because I got what I call “wet cat syndrome”. Basically, I got too wet and got very unhappy, so I left for a while. Kyle and I grabbed a bite at Zoe’s diner before coming back to my room to change into dry clothes. Eventually, we went back to the Yard to a live band, a lot of dancing, and a lot of bare feet in soft mud. When I woke up today, the air was so clean and the sun was out with large white clouds floating in the sky. It was quite perfect. Thinking about all that happened on Friday, I feel that I have experienced an emotional deluge after which I feel capable of starting over again with new breath.

                

My First Yom Kippur Fast

Forwarded Message

----

Rossi,

My first Yom Kippur fast was successful and cleansing. I think that it is good to take conscious time but that

it really is all about your attitude. First of all, a day is not a long time to go without eating (or drinking). However,

I just let my attention switch directly from hunger, when it  inevitably strikes me, to other aspects of my life that feel 

important to me, my valuable relationships in this case. As a result, I feel very grounded in who I am and confident in my 

ability to recognize that I trust in myself to make good decisions that guide me accordingly.

Also, it makes a difference to have the support of over 5 million Jews in the United States, let alone the 

13 million who could be attending to the same tradition. This characterizes the practice of observance

in that everything that a Jew does on the individual level runs much more deeply than that individual,

It's very grounding, if you ask me.

sincerely,

rossi