Lectures Loosely Tied

Franco and the OK Jazz sustaining a plateau of pure joy for what seems beyond endurance towards the end of the first song: “Oko Regretter Ngai Mama”, recorded live on Zaireian TV, back in 1975.  Last night, up early for no particular reason though unmistakably up.  I finished reading a book my stepdad had leant me by John Gaddis, a Yale historian entitled: “On Grand Strategy.”  As the dust jacket suggested, it seemed a series of lectures, loosely tied, mapping meditations on statecraft through western, and to be fair some of Chinese, history.  My mind turned on fashioning lectures into chapters this way. 

This year, I won’t be doing any work as a professor for the first time in six years or so.  Another COVID-19 casualty, the summer rotation at the Shanghai campus of the university where I teach was cancelled six weeks back.  And I will miss the chance to engage with smart students and revisit cases and Chinese history, once again.  Reading Gaddis’ section on Lincoln, who I was last considering a few months back in the “Bardot” with George Saunders, it occurred to me that I might be able to use this home-bound down time we’re going to have for the next few weeks, (months?) to run an informal class here.

My older daughter will be home tomorrow.  She’ll be with us for the foreseeable.  Her sister is also home, with her school’s break extended indefinitely.  My daughter’s friend who’d otherwise be stuck in San Diego will also come and join us.  So, I went on to Amazon after I finished the Gaddis’ book and got a well-recommended U.S. history text book for A.P. high school.  That’s just about right as the young one is in tenth grade and the older two are only college freshman.  My daughters, at least has never properly been taught this material in school.

I’ve long insisted that the older one take at least one, U.S. History class during her undergraduate career.  Perhaps I could just teach it here, now. I’ve long wanted the U.S. history review myself, au courant in as much as I now seem to reside here, and might just develop some new “lecture” material through the process. Honestly, I don’t know if this presumption of mine will have sufficiently strong girding to hold beyond the first day or two.  But I can sell.  I’ll give it a shot. 

Sunday, 03/15/20