The first week back

[alt_sinistra]

Congratulations, all our first years, on making it through your first week. I promise, it does get easier to figure out how to manage it all.

Now that I’ve seen how some changes to my schedule have shaken out, I have posted a chart of my office hours in the usual places (my classroom and office doors, and duplicated copies in the house common rooms.)

In short:
- various daytime hours on Monday, Wednesday, Friday when I am not teaching.
- 7 to 9pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
- by request at other times.

In the past, I have offered hours - often very relaxed and conversational - on Sunday afternoons. Between changes to the YPL schedule and my own commitments, it makes sense to schedule these week by week. I also expect to be unavailable on most Tuesday afternoons and early evenings and am generally unavailable in the late afternoon. Additions to my regular hours will be announced in class that week, and posted on Mondays.

Advance warning, fifth, sixth, and seventh years, I will be asking you to make some brief (about two hours total) but specific observations and measurements during the Draconids (October 7-8), Orionids (October 20-21), or Leonids (November 16-17). All three include at least one weekend day, and the Draconids are best visible just after sunset, but your actual options will depend on the weather. (Fifth years: we will jointly pick a midnight session to skip in exchange, and I have a thought about evening sessions and bad weather that might please you - we’ll discuss next week.)

Comments

Re: Private message to Antosha

[alt_sinistra]

Antosha -

I certainly cannot blame anyone for a lie-in. (Truly, I would the day had no hours between about four am and noon. Alas, the world does not accomodate me.) Forgive my mood, if you will - I'm waiting for Raz to get back from his patrol of the evening, and we've been finally enjoying a very thoughtful bottled present.

On my birthday, I've not fussed over it much in the past beyond my obligatory appointment with Poppy, though I suspect that may change at least a little this year. (For Raz's, in May, we managed 18 hours by ourselves with no other obligations, and that was quite the treat, but we can scarcely arrange that mid-week.) September 19th, anyway.

On Septima, quite. I've been in sympathy with her since it became clear in February that he was going to be in far over his head. (Did my best to help, but. Never mind.) On the more general, well. That too. Between last May and the one before, we had more than one painful lesson in that. Hannah's murder death, and the Frost Faire gladiatorial games. Both things I suspect no one's laid out clear for you, yet, but I might work up to it, given a few more discussions on simpler topics - Korzybski's theories of semantics, for example.

Better topics. I did have a word with Cedric - Diggory, our Head Boy - and several others. The fact I'd found you very pleasant, and emerged safely from discussion did seem to help, and they'll do what they can to pass the word along. And I do think you're right that another week or three will do a lot, too.

If I might make a suggestion there, I had a thought this afternoon. It is easy to trust that someone will be pleasant early on, when things are easy. But if you were to let them see you dealing with some frustrating difficulty in a measured, appropriate way, it might go a long way. Especially with the Hufflepuffs, that may soothe them more than words or even time. (We are a tribe who look at actions, more than many other things, I admit.)

As to your last - the afternoon was pleasant, the evening lovely, and I expect that will quite continue. May yours be as pleasant in it own way.
A.

Re: Private message to Antosha

[alt_antonin]

My dearest Aurora,

I shall make a note upon my calendar of the day, then, and you may expect at least a slight token!

I've not had the pleasure of our Head Boy's company as yet -- he's not enrolled in my classes, and of course asking the sixths and sevenths to add in a new subject during their preparations for NEWTs would be no true favor. (I do worry the same will prove true for the fifths, but -- well. We shall see.) Still, thank you most kindly for the defence. And yes, I do suppose a chance to evaluate my responses in adversity as well as the flush of new acquaintance would be more likely to cement a modicum of trust -- once bitten, twice shy, though of course Alecto never bothered with charm in any situation where fear might do.

(I suspect there will be plenty of chances for them to take more of my measure once we move into practical spellwork in class. There is nothing in the world more terrified than a student who's just accidentally hexed his teacher with something far more powerful than he'd intended; thankfully I am well used to such errors. And of course they'll have plenty of chances to see me struggling with the adversity of a body that refuses to do my bidding -- though, thankfully, Madam Pomfrey was able to offer some small relief, and I was at least able to sleep through the night for the most part.)

I have heard pieces of both events you reference (as well as several others), and of course I've read back some in the journals (now that -- he admits, shamefacedly -- someone has explained to me their use). But I am always grateful for additional perspective: enough information to avoid putting a foot wrongly is often hard to come by.

Though if Korzybski is simpler -- ouch. I would hate to pressure you into revisiting old conundrums.

Wishing you pleasant dreams, whenever you do get the chance to apply yourself to them,
Tosha

Re: Private message to Antosha

[alt_sinistra]

Antosha, a most pleasant morning to you -

And when, may I inquire, is yours? (Fair is fair, no?)

As to Cedric, of course he's not one of your newts. But he has a great deal of influence with the sett, as is only right. (In your backward reading, I'm sure you've realised by now, but he was the other Hogwarts champion during last year's competition, and handled a deeply complicated situation with a great deal of grace. A number of them - and particularly the more determinedly stubborn - look to him for guidance.)

And isn't the past complicated to talk about? I do appreciate the desire to have enough information to avoid a foot wrong (or both feet, both hands, and one's mouth.) Just that you'll have gathered both topics are more than a little complicated. (And certainly better discussed when I have had less to drink than last night. Though very pleasant that.) But, well. I'd rather, even in the sharper light of morning, that you had more information rather than less. Just let me work up to it, but if there's something you truly need know, please ask.

As to the sleep, I'm glad Poppy was able to be of help. I'm a great trial to her on the subject myself (though, I suspect for different reasons: an irregular schedule combined with the nearby Dementors two years ago and the rather peculiar stresses of last year has not been a restful combination.) But I try to do better, these days, even if it does mean resorting to Poppy's ministrations.

I did have one more wandering thought - something about what you said, on Friday, about the tendency of many to treat each piece as equal to the rest, as opposed to part of a larger and far more subtle whole. There's the same similarity in my own field, and I suspect more than one other, and I'm wondering if teasing that out explicitly might be of use to you. (Raz also explained your planned demonstration while he was rummaging for boxes for you, which I must say sounds intriguing. And entirely practical.) I am afraid it's rather ill-formed and drowsy, as a thought, but perhaps you can do more with it.

Yours, in a pleasant Sunday morning.
A.

Re: Private message to Antosha

[alt_antonin]

My dearest Aurora,

11th November, and I've been told by those who believe in astrology (not I) that Scorpio suits me as much as Virgo suits you. (Had a friend back in school produce my natal chart, once. Apparently I am drawn to people, prefer intellectual debate, like to travel, and am prone to indulging my gregarious nature. Were it not for all the bits about how I am also inclined towards success in love and romance ...)

Divinatory nonsense aside, it being the one subject taught in our fair castle in which I have less than no interest --

I have been thinking a great deal this week about the past, and about received and secret histories (both personal and societal), and about the way things look in the sharper light of relative morning as compared to the way they looked throughout the long dark night of the soul. And the universe does seem to be conspiring to reinforce the thematic progression with distressing frequency of late. I would not presume to ask you to revisit your own dark nights of the soul, nor ask you to pick your way through a field of uncertain footing solely for my benefit: I do of course have other sources, of longer and closer relationship, upon whom to presume for the detail, once we are able to find worlds enough and time.

Yet I was reminded last night, by a bold young man of my recent acquaintance, that those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it, and (though he did not draw the connection himself) was also reminded that fitting the past into neat little boxes is often impossible no matter what the heart desires: time and history are messy things, unsuited to packing neatly away like books or tea-things. What has gone before shapes us, even when -- perhaps most when -- we try to forget. And -- forgive me my presumption -- from several things you have said and more things you have shied away from, I suspect you to have tangles of your own that you are still trying to sort through (tidying the mental drawers is so much harder in adulthood, is it not?)

No doubt you have your own confidantes and confessors, and may feel our friendship too new to bear much weight of confidence. But I am an excellent listener, and will gladly place those services at your disposal -- and like any confessor, confidentiality is utmost. If you could use an ear, and someone to hold those tangled skeins of thought as you work to unravel them, I am at your service for the asking.

Bah. Philosophical this morning.

I do believe you're on to something with your idea about parts and wholes, and it's something that certainly bears more thought. (And connected to the former, actually, if one follows the threads far enough back to their source.) The human mind has a lamentable tendency towards black-and-white thinking, does it not? And yet the world is wreathed 'round in shades of grey, and each piece of the whole is, when taken alone, large enough to be a whole of itself. You're right that making that reasoning explicit may prove to be a fertile line of thought for the children (and I wonder if they've ever had it explicitly stated as such?) This week's lessons have already been sorted, but I may place a discussion touching upon the question upon the syllabus for next week; it dovetails nicely with the choice I will be asking them to make between practical and theoretical study.

(Am happy to provide a private demonstration of this week's party trick, meanwhile, whenever it suits. Though Razzer's just as capable, and likely nearer to hand!)

Off to spend a quiet afternoon soaking up sunshine with book in hand, and if I am lucky, the book will not wind up reading me. May your Sunday continue to be as pleasant (and the hangover, if you were thus afflicted, quick to ease).

With greatest affection,
T

Re: Private message to Antosha

[alt_sinistra]

Antosha -

If you've not figured out that philosophical is not a problem for me by now, you are a far less observant man than I'd thought. (On that note, I have immersed myself rather this summer in the Renaissance neo-Platonists. Ficino, mostly, but various of the other wizards of that set tool. Just to confirm my own interest in the subject.)

Passing by divination, on which I've much the same opinion (though there's some mingling of astronomy and astrology that's regrettably unescapable in my field - see Ficino), let's see. It is not dark nights, as I'd put it (those, I find most comforting, really. But then, I am used to uncertainty when staring into the heart of the universe). But rather, the unruly sun bursting through and forcing one to confront things one might have preferred remain in shadow.

You are quite right there are things I am still untangling. And I've not so many friends, as I pointed out to an old one last year, that I can afford to push them away. There are indeed places I think you might be of some great help, given what you said above about the pains of losing one's students. (Something Raz - well, I hope it is a very long time indeed before he has the experience, but he hasn't yet.) The Games were hard for me for more than one reason, but the one I've found perhaps hardest to let go of is that two of those who died were students of mine. Pomona did her best by me, but she wasn't there watching, and the context does matter. You, at least, can fill in more of the social dynamics and their implications correctly.

I'll be honest here further, and confirm something else I'm sure you've already spotted - that history has been much on my mind too. Some of my older friends (quite a few, to be honest) have been clear with me that they are none too happy with Raz's past and reputation. It's created distance I wish didn't exist, and yet, one cannot force trust or complex understanding, or the realisation that situation and individual are not one single good or evil, but a complex dance of choices and events. (Much like the stars, that, with the infinite call of gravity and inertia, the interplay of novae and nebulae.)

I gave up any chance I had of the pleasures of simple answers when I admitted how deeply I'd let Raz into my loyalties - but talking about it , well. There's the thing that's hard. And I am still not at all practiced with it (unsurprising: it takes more than a year to gain mastery of anything worth doing.)

As to the rest, no hangover, thank you. (I try to be smarter than that.) Just the pleasant lassitude of an afternoon without much I must do right now, catching up on my astronomy journals and thinking about the implications of the translation you did for me.

Mysteries of the universe, indeed.
A.