Rapunzel, Rapunzel

One of the most interesting parts of writing my dissertation has been the surprising ways in which I find inspiration. The only surprise - in reality - is that my instinct is correct and it makes me wonder why I foster such gross insecurities about this fact.

My diss project has a mind all its own and is all over the place, but in a good way. It represents everything I hope to be as a writer, and that is really saying something. But as I was pondering birds in cages (one of the trace resonances of the headnotes to each major movement of the book), I found that I didn't have the last piece to complete the interludes. I realize that does not make sense to anyone unfamiliar with what I'm writing, but bear with me. In short, when I'm teaching, I seem to find myself constantly talking about the caged bird metaphor, which is a salient one, but I don't think it's dead yet. Now when I need one more bit of this, it seems to be nowhere that I can find, despite days of looking.

Then, as if from a divine parting of clouds, I'm teaching my Children's Lit course on Thursday night and there it is, the last bit about the birds in - of all places - Rapunzel. Even funnier is that I don't much care for this fairy tale because it is one that appears to be incomplete by the time it gets written down by the Grimms. Too many gaps in its logic and no clear point that I can find, so had I been aware that in the new version of the text book that story appeared in this chapter, I may not have assigned it at all.

And people laugh at me for jumping and hoping the net will appear...