The Big Day

Today I fly. Last night, at around 12:30 a.m., I was looking at my empty suitcases and backpacks on the couch and at all my stuff in piles around the living room and thought, 'no problem - tons of room.' At 3 a.m. I gave up and went to bed. I'm trying to be hyper-organized and arrange everything according to dig/school stuff. Not happening. I'm just going to shove it all in wherever it fits and deal with it there. I like it.

I just spoke with my mother and told her I was blogging when I should be packing. We had a lovely conversation; I'm pretty sure she hung up relatively quickly so she could have a good cry. I've promised not to tease her when she gets weepy...

My thesis statement, for those who want to know the theoretical essence of my work:

Deborah and Jael in the biblical narrative found in Judges 4 and 5 are two characters who have received very little attention in recent biblical, mythic revisionist literature. As women depicted positively as a leader and saviour of their people, they are anomalous characters in the patriarchal narrative of the Hebrew Bible, if their story is indeed a recounting of actual historical figures. If, however, the narrative is based on the older mythology of the surrounding Canaanite culture, Deborah and Jael as mortal archetypal characters can be interpreted as a usurping and grounding of the violent, divine feminine aspect of this culture’s war and fertility goddesses to promote and legitimate the biblical authors’ monotheistic worldview. In a work of feminist fictional mythic revision, comprised of a series of interconnected short stories and poetry, is the opportunity to provide the ancient voices of these narratives an updated interpretation, and a further opportunity to explore the power and relevance such voices still hold for a modern audience.

And now, back to my packing. The next time you hear from me, I'll be writing in the Holy Land. Have I mentioned how much I love saying that?