{"id":1122,"date":"2015-01-09T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2015-01-09T05:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1122"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:49:53","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:49:53","slug":"friday-jan-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2015\/01\/09\/friday-jan-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Jan 9"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday January 9, 2015 \u00a0– settling in for Term 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier in my UD\/UDM time,\u00a0when I taught a lot of courses, I met the first weeks of each term with curiosity and anxiety; catch a communal rhythm of shared challenge, asking for help, offering help, managing bad days, biting into the curve of the wave of some new thinking. \u00a0Sometimes missing the wave and then recovering. \u00a0 Would this group of students miss the wave altogether and never gel into a community of learning with its own soul? \u00a0 Sometimes, I would remind myself, the magic doesn\u2019t work so well. \u00a0Then teacher and students have to suck it up and slog through the learning process. \u00a0Sometimes you, teacher, feel you\u2019ve let the students down. \u00a0But what if this group, just coming together, find in themselves a collective capacity to create and be surprised? \u00a0Is the potential for magic in this room full of human beings? \u00a0Startup times are uncertain and call for hope.<\/p>\n

Mary Oliver\u2019s \u201cMaking the House Ready for the Lord\u201d contemplates winter\u2019s early days,\u00a0a place full of improbable welcome for an unlikely gathering who, with some hospitality, can grow a communal soul. \u00a0 \u00a0It\u2019s good to read the poem out loud, with some pauses.<\/p>\n

Enjoy this wintry weekend.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post \u2014 Making the House Ready for the Lord<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear Lord, I have swept and I have washed but
\nstill nothing is as shining as it should be
\nfor you. Under the sink, for example, is an
\nuproar of mice \u2013 it is the season of their
\nmany children. What shall I do? And under
\nthe eaves
\nand through the walls the squirrels
\nhave gnawed their ragged entrances \u2013 but it is
\nthe season
\nwhen they need shelter, so what shall I do?
\nAnd the raccoon limps into the kitchen and
\nopens the cupboard
\nwhile the dog snores, the cat hugs the pillow;
\nwhat shall I do? Beautiful is the new snow falling
\nin the yard and the fox who is staring boldly
\nup the path to the door. And still I believe
\nyou will
\ncome, Lord: you will, when I speak to the fox,
\nthe sparrow, the lost dog, the shivering
\nsea-goose, know
\nthat really I am speaking to you whenever I say,
\nas I do all morning and afternoon: Come in,
\nCome in.<\/p>\n

Mary Oliver<\/p>\n

\"Mary-Oliver\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday January 9, 2015 \u00a0– settling in for Term 2 Earlier in my UD\/UDM time,\u00a0when I taught a lot of courses, I met the first weeks of each term with curiosity and anxiety; catch a communal rhythm of shared challenge, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1124,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122\/revisions\/1124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}