The parallels between Odysseus’ struggles and the day-to-day travails of the life of the graduate student are sometimes depressing. Odysseus’ journey home spanned nineteen years, and he was oft referred to as the most unfortunate man who ever lived. But since this is the last entry of September and the end of September feels like a kind of collective ‘Sunday Night Blues,’ and this last day of September is in fact Sunday, it may be the right time to get a little depressing. The end of the beginning
is upon us.
So this end, as all ends do, marks a beginning of something else. The beginning of the journey proper. A beginning filled with more hang-ups, problems, deadlines, delays, tears, sweat, and calamity than any of us wish to think about, but, as the great Odysseus said, “For in my day I have had many bitter and shattering experiences in war and on the stormy seas. So let this new disaster come. It only makes one more.”
September 30, 2007...11:28 pm
Last September Sigh
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2 Comments
October 4, 2007 at 12:21 am
I’m putting tghat in my journal. Odysseus knows his shit. September doeds feel like thed end of the beginning. The morning grows darker.
But hey, due to global warming, it’s till warm out. So there’s a pick-me-up.
October 5, 2007 at 8:15 pm
isn’t it a great quote??!! i know, the whole getting dark earlier thing is hard to deal with, even in sunny cali…