Response to Wilfred Gordon. . .

Response to Wilfred Gordon . . .

I reached in my purse and pulled out, tah, dah, my IPOD! Although my IPOD is relatively new—just a year or so old, it already holds many memories.

Echoes of monks intoning parts of the mass ripple to the surface in my many Gregorian chants.

Cool sounds of John Coltrane create the relaxing sensation of sitting and sipping refreshments with friends.

Inspiring, motivating and heart stirring music moves me mightily as I listen to the powerful work of Gustav Holtz’s Jupiter.

The many magical moments of Mozart uplift me as I listen to his works.

Christmas crystallizes for me in the special music I have captured on my IPOD and each one takes me to a different place a different part of my life.

When I listen to Gregorian chants, I am back in Rome. in a 20^th century monastery above a 6^th century church. I step across the cool marble path of the hallway and listen to the almost mystical chants of the monks participating in a daily liturgy or a call to prayer with the Liturgy of the Hours. Sounds of the busy modern Rome are diminished by this encounter with the sacred and I pause from my modern journey to step back into this moment where the sacred and secular merge.

What do the strains of John Coltrane bring to mind? Memories of friends--having fun and working with friends. Chris White, is a friend, who is a Mass Communications professor. His office, funky and fresh with pop culture as he is, is located near the SHSU Radio Station. When I was an assistant professor at SHSU, I used to go to his office to work on collaborative projects. Big and roomy, it allowed creativity just to spark off the pastel walls which were an amalgam of art and found objects which became art in that environment. A bony skeleton hung next to a poster from the MET and a UT football was perched on a shelf between academic tomes. This eclectic mix created an atmosphere which supported writing magic.

In the afternoons SHSU student radio hosted jazz shows, and that's where I learned to love jazz. John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Dizzie Gillespie--the classic jazz artists from the late twentieth century crept into my consciousness as their work became an enchanting undercurrent to the collaborative work Chris and I were doing. My intensity for the work was mellowed and morphed into a more creative focus with the synergy of Chris's and my combined thoughts and the jazz that accomapnied them! Now when I hear jazz, I immediately go to that same place and a similar synergy is there.

Simple sentence: Now when I hear jazz, I immediately go to that same place and a similar synergy is there.

Now when I hear the delicious free-spirited sounds that mark music as jazz, I am transformed back through time and space to those synergestic moments of shared work.

Unexploded Moment: When I was an assistant professor at SHSU, I used to go to his office to work on collaborative projects.

Exploded Moment: Green with the newness