I have hit a beautiful point in my studies. I have it clear what I want to do, and it is under the framework of applied anthropology, and it is really why I wanted to do a PhD in the first place, and what I am going to do has to do with equality and prejudice. Specifically. I'm not going to write any more about here or anywhere else probably for at least a year, but if you know me personally, then feel free to ask me and I am sure I will talk your ear off. I don't know if I am going to be able to pull it off, and it is going to be so hard, but it has real meaning (maybe for other people too). I have struggled with the usefulness/frivolousness of indulging in advanced studies in terms of ethics/morality (I have also always tussled with this issue as an artist). But this changes things... It makes me feel hopeful, VERY optimistic! The subject is optimistic too, about engendering real change.

My oldest friend Alanna (well, she is not that old, but we have known each other since we were 3) sent me this image today. It is apt for the study stuff (Sophia in a tree, I think), but it's very peculiar, because being an un-classically schooled type I did not know of this Sophia myth... and yet the specific imagery I have used in my writing... Damn! I love this painting so much!

The woman in a many-fruited tree, she is triumphant in fire, the twelve stars at her feet - there is even a monkey! And a sun and a moon. A phoenix? Is this one of Hildegard von Bingen's?