O.K., so I know it's not January 1st, but this week was the beginning of the new school year, not to mention the return to duty of our politicians. For all of us, I'd say, the day after Labour Day signals the beginning of things. The trees certainly seem to be earnestly in readiness for Fall now! (I saw the most stunning little red maple leaf on my walk today.) And the weather's suddenly taken an abrupt turn. It started with chilly nights over a week ago, but now, we've got chilly days too. As I write this, I'm covered up to my waist in a duvet and I've got my kettle constantly on the boil! And the Canada geese have been squawking off to warmer climes for the past few days. Everywhere, there's a turning. Change is in the air. The biggest change for me this week has been the launch of my online literature classes, Caedmon Tutorials. Four lovely students have joined me to explore Medieval Literature for the next eight months. Figuring out the technology has been the biggest battle, but I'm enjoying learning how to make it work. It feels really good to have a challenge. The readings are great fun too. Next week, we're looking at elegies: "The Wanderer," "The Seafarer," "The Wife's Complaint," and "The Husband's Message." Kind of a bleak start, you might think, but the elegy is a fascinating form because of the way it conforms to the human psyche's response to grief: an initial lamentation as the loss sets in turns to praise and idealization which finally comes around to consolation ("Tears assuage sadness," as St. Thomas Aquinas says).
I feel as if this Summer just past has been a kind of elegiac period: the lament over not being able to find a teaching job in the school boards; the creation of Caedmon Tutorials, born out of a need to be useful; and now, the consolation of having made a start and realizing that it is something very good (thanks be to God!).