Earlier this evening ......

      ......... I was chatting online with a student here at the university – not one of my students but someone I know pretty well, and she said it was weird when I messaged her because at that moment she was reading this and (although she didn’t say it in these words) trying to make head or tail of it. I think she wanted to say “What the fuck is this about?” but was too polite. When I explained that all the names were of female British singers (or almost; I’m not sure Winfred Atwell ever sang) from my childhood and teenage years, and if you ignore the names almost all the situations in it are genuinely autobiographical, she was a little clearer as to what it was about, but I think she’s still a long way from Clarity City, which puts her pretty much in the same place as me a lot of the time. But she’s also in a good enquiring place, and it’s beautiful to see someone tackling something with a genuinely enquiring mind (not to mention in their second language).

Comments

[Katy]

'it’s beautiful to see someone tackling something with a genuinely enquiring mind' - it sounds almost like you're surprised to see this 'genuine enquiring' - as opposed to pretending to enquire? as opposed to enquiring because they think they should, but really couldn't give a damn? :/