Jesus
Some say he was the son of God. Others say he was just a man. Others, a myth. This thought has nothing to do with that argument, but with a moment in the story of the last supper that is worth some thought.
First of all, skin. Snakes, when they are ready to use their new skin, peel out of their old flesh and leave a beautiful treasure for a kid to find and pin to the wall. We humans are not so graceful as snakes; our skin we leave in flakes and bits in the air, the tabletop, everywhere. 5 people in a car are all breathing one another in, literally inhaling one another's flesh, between home and their destination. And so,
If we can imagine a last supper with bread and wine, and if we can accept that Jesus may have made the bread he shared at that meal--or even if not, that he broke the bread with his hands when he said "this is my body"--that it actually was his body.
This image, of the hands of farmers, of millers, of bakers, all leaving themselves in and on the loaf that sits before me on the table, is far from grotesque--it is an image of community, which ends with unity. Yes, yes, baking surely burns out all the bits tat might be yucky to think about, but not the flavor. El Sabor. We eat bread and we can quite literally taste our own humanity.
Comments
to be profound...is failing miserably...sad for your students.
...i was not trying to be profound. idiots like me should avoid that always. but i guess i am trying one thing: to be finished here. thanks for the warm welcome.
Are teaching a bread course. Being trained as a sculptor what would lead you or you school to believe it fair to students and parents that you are capable in that capacity.
Now, the part where I take the bait . . . I am teaching a course about the skills and practices of reading, writing, and speaking at the college level. This course is effectively a 'reading and discussion in a subject area' class that teachers can engage from any number of points of interest. I have a long standing interest in bread. My training and research as an artist has actually exposed me to a modest pile of reading and research into the history of, the politics surrounding, and some cultural touchstones based in, bread. My own work as an artist often uses this research to execute performances and public artworks using bread I have baked. I have spent the last 10 months in intentional research as I prepare for the teaching of this class. While I am happy to provide the bibliography of my readings (some of them are GREAT books), I would be much more interested in hearing suggestions from others (a request I admittedly had not made yet here by my third post) that might further my learning about this process and product I adore.
As for the main work of the course: reading, writing, discussion. I was an English teacher at the high school honors and AP level for 7 years before I returned to school to do graduate work. All of my initial professional training was in reading and writing pedagogy. As a sculpture teacher, my classes are regularly peppered with research and reflection so that my students learn to contextualize the work they do.
Hey look, I understand that it may appear I think I am wise and clever. I promise you I do not. I hope I am curious and kind. This foray into blogging was just that--not meant to be for my class to see, nor meant to reveal some heavy thinking about bread. Just thought I would try this blog thing out and since I do love baking bread I thought this might be a place to do that.
I can say that it is not the TFL norm for behavior. It is regretful that you were treated so harshly.
While there is a near certainty that Jesus did not make the bread for His last Passover meal (He had sent some of His disciples ahead to make the arrangements, remember), your thought that we each leave a little bit of ourselves in our bread is one that I had not considered. It isn't the most appetizing of thoughts, I confess. Since Jesus' instruction to His disciples was to continue to use the bread and the wine as representations of His body and blood, my guess is that He was more concerned with the symbolism than with the transfer of some traces of His physical body.
Thanks for making me think.
Paul
Thank you, Paul! You said it better than I would have! Boors are among us!
Ford
to apologize for me. I am certainly entitled to my opinion and being somewhat offended by a casual analogy using Jesus. Certainly not harsh and if you read the other entries in the blog, his actual first year seminar was not fully explained until his entry above.
at all. Indeed, I can see how there is a risk in bringing Jesus into a casual analogy--belief is a powerful and personal thing and I never wish to level attacks on that front. Also, you are correct that I had not made clear the nature of my writing, reading, discussion course; I imagine I would not want me for a teacher either if the course was a practicum in bread making, at which I am at best a devoted amateur, at worst a man playing sloppily at kitchen sculpture.
That said, I do appreciate the other comments on this thread in part for extending a welcome and in part for engaging with the question of bread's poetry, which I do not claim to understand with profundity at all but which I do very much love. On that note, I would be glad to hear what it is about bread and baking that owns your heart!
but quite concerned as to why you changed the name of your blog??
To something a different view, put into words in part of a poem I'm currently working on:
Because there is solace to be found
In a great and magnificent truth;
That we are made of starstuff, you see,
You, the living stars, your loved ones,
the whole Universe and me…
So basically we are the universe made manifest, simply doing what the universe has always done - converting matter into energy and back into matter again... Put that way, it's nowhere near as distasteful ;-) This way, you can eat a star without ever having to sink your teeth into white hot hydrogen LOL