Sensitivity of a Porcupine
Thus far, my sister and a dear friend (I was going to say "old friend" but thought that might be misconstrued) have both suggested that I'm being tooooo sensitive about the Tribune article (now isn't that a surprise ... not). So, I'm going to publicly retract my quills and say they may be right.
It's always tough at the end of semester because I'm so exhausted getting everything done. Last night was graduation at MCC. It was my 9th one (I can't even believe it) and, as usual, I enjoyed it tremendously. As our students cross the platform, I'm reminded of why I do this work. I hope they have found something they love to do and spend their lives contributing their skills, talents and creativity to the world. I find myself hoping and praying that we've done well by them; that they've acquired the technical and critical reasoning skills to be successful. On these evenings, I am sensitive to the pressure ... and pleasure ... of a life in education.
The weariness and awareness wear a bit on me at the end of term. As Spike Lee would say, I just want to be sure that I'm doing the right thing.
So, I'll clean up the dart I tossed about the Tribune article. Jabbes has been my student for over a year now and when he came to ask for help in producing his film, it brought a lot tasks to my life. It was a worthwhile endeavor so I took it on but it nearly burst my already over-committed schedule. Jabbes will always say, "I have so much respect for you, Mum. I could not have done this without you." Somehow, I was hoping that collaboration and commitment on BOTH of our sides were more apparent.
When he and I get together now, we both talk about how inspired and excited we are ... AND how tired we are. He says he never sleeps before 4am. I tell him I've even missed a couple of nights of sleep all together. We both feel very committed to the projects and work hard to make them exciting and successful. I think we both see what a beneficial thing this collaboration on art, education and industry can be for Zambia. At the end of the day (and, at the end of my time), that will be what was important.
And, one final note, by Monday, Jabbes will be blogging about the Zambian film projects at a new site I'm establishing, filmZambia.com. He's hoping to share his process and struggles about the making of the films.
